Roddick, Serena, Rain Win at Wimbledon

Posted on June 28, 2007

Roddick Through, Federer Rained On at Wimbledon

Favorites Roger Federer and Andy Roddick were in action Wednesday at Wimbledon, with the American navigating the rains, but the Swiss held up to finish his match on Thursday.

Roddick handled Thai Danai Udomchoke 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3), while Federer led Juan Martin Del Potro 6-2, 7-5, 2-0 when the match was suspended.

"I came into the tournament pretty confident, so that was a good thing," Roddick said of his sub-par play. "You know, just the thing is, just give yourself another opportunity to play another day. That's kind of how you get deep into a draw in a Slam."


Roddick will now meet Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 winner over Andreas Seppi.

Other seeded winners Wednesday were (5) Fernando Gonzalez (d. Falla in four) and (12) Richard Gasquet (d. French countryman Mahut).

Other matches suspended for the day were (13) Tommy Haas leading Tomas Zib 6-3, (15) Ivan Ljubicic leading Jan Hernych 3-2, (20) Juan Carlos Ferrero tied with Gilles Muller 1-1, (24) Juan Ignacio Chela tied with Edouard Roger-Vasselin 5-5, and Tim Henman tied with Feliciano Lopez 1-1.

In the only other all-unseeded match completed, Serb Janko Tipsarevic beat Florent Serra, 6-3 in five sets.

If Federer can successfully complete his match Thursday it will be his 50th straight win on grass, an Open Era record.

Highlights of Thursday play includes Tim Henman vs. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (to finish), Werner Eschauer vs. (2) Rafael Nadal, (1) Roger Federer vs. Juan Martin Del Potro (to finish), (16) Lleyton Hewitt vs. Simone Bolelli, (6) Nikolay Davydenko vs. Chris "Penthouse" Guccione, (9) James Blake vs. Andrei Pavel, Amer Delic vs. (4) Novak Djokovic, the big-serving Gilles Muller vs. (20) Juan Carlos Ferrero (to finish), (13) Tommy Haas vs. Tomas Zib (to finish), Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi vs. (26) Marat Safin, Wayne Arthurs vs. (11) Tommy Robredo, (7) Tomas Berdych vs. Michael Llodra, Nicolas Kiefer vs. Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. (22) Guillermo Canas, and (28) Robin Soderling vs. former semifinalist Sebastien Grosjean.

Henin, Serena, Hingis Through Wednesday at Wimbledon

No. 7 seed Serena Williams sees her chances for a title this year at Wimbledon, and was angry with herself for stumbling past Aussie Alicia Molik Wednesday, coming back from a break down in the first set.

"I was really angry," Williams said. "I thought it was unfair that I got down so far. I was like, 'OK, it's just one break.'"

Williams will next face Milagros Sequera of Venezuela.

Other seeded winners Wednesday were (1) Justine Henin (d. Dushevina, bagel in the first), (3) Jelena Jankovic (d. Gajdosova), (6) Ana Ivanovic (d. Czink, bagel in the first), (9) Martina Hingis (d. Nakamura), (12) Elena Dementieva (d. Dechy), (13) Dinara Safina (d. K.Bondarenko), (14) Nicole Vaidisova (d. Knapp), (16) Shahar Peer (d. Kanepi), (17) Tatiana Golovin (d. Hsieh 8-6 in the third), (18) Marion Bartoli (d. Govortsova), (21) Tathiana Garbin (d. Yan in three), (28) Mara Santangelo (d. Morita in three), (29) Francesca Schiavone (d. Kremer in three), and (32) Martina Muller (d. Smashnova 0-and-0).

Upsets were orchestrated on the lawns by American Laura Granville who defeated No. 20 Sybille Bammer 6-1, 6-4, Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual who defeated No. 22 Anabel Medina Garrigues in three, and Sequera who ousted No. 27 Sam Stosur 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

Thursday's highlights include Severine Bremond vs. (2) Maria Sharapova, Hana Sromova vs. (23) Venus Williams, India's Sania Mirza vs. (11) Nadia Petrova, Tatiana Poutchek vs. (8) Anna Chakvetadze, (6) Ana Ivanovic vs. Meilen Tu, (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Bethanie Mattek, (31) Michaella Krajicek vs. Brit Katie O'Brien, Yvonne Meusburger vs. (4) Amelie Mauresmo, and (10) Daniela Hantuchova vs. Elena Likhovtseva.
  
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
18 matches scheduled for Wednesday were pushed to Thursday...Play starts Thursday at 11am due to the rain...Should Wimbledom get a full day of play Thursday, the event will be back on schedule...The forecast is for sun in the morning Thursday, then rain, then clearing late evening...Justine Henin has won her last 13 matches, dropping just one set...Name the last time Feli Lopez won a big match?...Tim Henman has lost in the second round of Wimbledon the last two years, each time after a first-round five-set win...Amelie Mauresmo pulled from the doubles due to a "minor strain"...Jelena Jankovic has lost just four games in two matches...Nice red underwear by Tatiana Golovin at Wimbledon...From Reuters on the new Maria Sharapova look at Wimbledon: "Playing in a dress that looks like a swan could be Maria Sharapova's downfall at Wimbledon this year -- if the All England Club's hawk mistakes her for the real thing. A hawk is released to fly around the grounds every morning during the championships to frighten off any pigeons. "Does the hawk usually bite the swan? Jesus, I might have to cut those pleats away," the 2004 champion joked at a news conference on Tuesday. Sharapova has been sporting a white dress with frills on the bottom and wing-like ones down the back, the latest in a series of creative outfits the keen designer has worn on court."...A Harris Interactive poll of 2,372 U.S. adults between June 5-11 of "America's Favorite Sports Stars" failed to yield any tennis players (or women for that matter): 1. Tiger Woods, 2. Derek Jeter, 3. Michael Jordan, 4. Brett Favre, 5. LeBron James, 6. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 7. Tim Duncan, 8. Peyton Manning, 9. Kobe Bryant, 10. Tom Brady...Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi became the first Pakistani player in more than three decades to reach the second round at Wimbledon...From Diane Bell of the San Diego Union-Tribune: "While tennis fans are beginning to focus on Wimbledon, some La Jolla Shores sunbathers just got a special treat. Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, vacationing here with their children, came across Gretchen Magers playing beach tennis the other day and stopped to join in. Beach tennis? It's a game of volleys (no bouncing) on sand courts with a volleyball-type net, tennis racquets and a depressurized tennis ball. Magers, a La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club pro, is tied for top-rated Beach Tennis USA contender in this fairly new sand sport that is rapidly growing in popularity. A tournament was held this month in Pacific Beach. Agassi and another companion, tennis pal Sargis Sargsian, teamed up in an impromptu doubles match against Magers and La Jollan Tiffany Worst."...Former champ Martina Hingis put out on Court 13 on Wednesday at Wimbledon? Ouch...The Williams sisters, Lisa Raymond and Vania King will be the U.S. team facing Russia in the Fed Cup semifinals...Serena Williams is up for as ESPY for Best Championship Performance at the Australian Open...Anyone get a count of how many times ESPN re-ran the Henman-Moya and Serena matches Wednesday? Three?...From Tennis Week: "Over the first weekend, Tennis Channel's coverage racked up a 0.4 rating which equaled that of the Yankees-Red Sox game being shown at the same time. It also rated higher during that period than ESPN News, Golf Channel, College Sports TV and Versus."...From Tennis.com blogger Steve Tignor: "I've always felt that press conferences are overvalued by the journalists who sit in them -- the players have to be there and they answer the (often irrelevant) questions as quickly as possible, off the top of their heads. In the same way, I think ESPN overvalues the interest tennis fans have in anything other than watching tennis. I know I've never cared about anything else in their broadcasts. Exception: British gossip columnist Sue Mott. She's funny, and she makes Chris Fowler look like a dull, flustered Yank by comparison."...From Reuters on the surly Marat Safin: "The big Russian, who has never liked playing on grass, was outraged at the high prices at the All England Club. "I try not to overstay my welcome here," the former world number one told the Sovietsky Sport newspaper, calling Wimbledon his least favourite tournament. "Players complain about a lot of things in the locker room but when it comes to speaking their mind to the press they always say how nice everything is. "But how can it be nice if you can't even buy a normal meal with our daily allowances here. A plate of spaghetti cost $25, where else do you see such outrageous prices," he asked."