Federer Walks Through; Rain Again at Wimbledon

Posted on July 3, 2007

Only three men's matches were completed Monday at Wimbledon due to rain, which remains in the forecast for the coming days.

Winners beating the downpour Monday were No. 7 Tomas Berdych who straight-setted Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee, No. 10 Marcos Baghdatis who walked past a tanking No. 23 seed David Nalbandian 6-2, 7-5, 6-0, and No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny defeated No. 18 Jarkko Nieminen.

Baghdatis told ESPN that Nalbandian didn't seem to be trying in the third set when the Argentine quickly exited in 6-0 style, then Nalbandian complained in his post-match conference about Wimbledon taking the middle Sunday off despite the rainy schedule.

Matches suspended Monday were (2) Rafael Nadal leading (28) Robin Soderling 2-0 in the fifth; (4) Novak Djokovic leading Nicolas Kiefer 7-6(4), 6-5; (6) Nikolay Davydenko leading Gael Monfils 6-3, 7-5, 3-0; (16) Lleyton Hewitt leading (22) Guillermo Canas 6-4, 3-6, 3-1; and (19) Jonas Bjorkman leading Wayne Arthurs 6-2, 6-1, 4-3.

Nadal thought he had wrapped up his match in the third set with a forehand winner on match point, but the replay showed the ball out and the Swede Soderling stretched the match to a fifth set before play was called for the day.

Roger Federer moved ahead in the draw without playing a match when opponent Tommy Haas withdrew from the tournament citing an abdominal injury.

Matches scheduled for Tuesday are (3) Andy Roddick vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu, (2) Rafael Nadal vs. Robin Soderling (to finish), (12) Richard Gasquet vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, (4) Novak Djokovic vs. Nicolas Kiefer (to finish), (20) Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Janko Tipsarevic, (6) Nikolay Davydenko vs. Gael Monfils (to finish), (16) Lleyton Hewitt vs. (22) Guillermo Canas (to finish).