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Game Over for Super Mario

Monday, June 27, 2005

Feliciano Lopez, the fierce serving Spanish left-hander, advanced to the last eight with a second successive win over a seeded player at Wimbledon today.

Lopez followed his victory over the fifth seed Marat Safin by beating the tenth seeded Croatian Mario Ancic 6-4. 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 40 minutes on Court 18.

The victory meant that Spain had a player in the quarter-finals for the first time since the left-handed Manuel Orantes in 1972. The last Spaniard to win Wimbledon was Manuel Santana in 1966.

With plenty of support in the crowd, Lopez played with high concentration and confidence to take control against one of last year's semi-finalists almost from the first point.

Ancic was under so much pressure against Lopez's serve that he managed to gain only three break points in fourteen service games - and that was when he broke serve for the only time in the second game of the second set.

Ancic, playing on Croatia's national day, was plagued with double faults - 15 in all against one by Lopez - and when he dropped serve at the start of the second set he threw his racket across court and received a warning for racket abuse.

By a curious twist, Ancic's only other defeat to a left-hander in a grand slam match was against another Spaniard, Rafael Nadal, at Wimbledon 2003.

Ancic has rightly been feared on grass because of he has won over 70 per cent of his matches on the surface but it was clear that he could find no method of dealing with the dedicated serve volley attack of Lopez.

Lopez served seven aces and had a highest service speed of 138 mph during the second set. But his second serve was menacing as well and he kept up the pressure superbly.

"I played a great match but since the beginning he was not serving with confidence," said Lopez. "He didn't play his best level and I did."

Lopez is the only left hander remaining at Wimbledon out of 17 who started.

Written by Barry Newcombe

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One To Watch: Richard Gasquet

Monday, 27 June, 2005

Talented teenager Richard Gasquet has been quietly making his way through the draw and has now earned a place in the second week of the Men's Singles for the first time. With an impressive eighth consecutive win on grass, he is definitely one to watch today as he faces his toughest test to date on grass, the 2002 finalist, Argentina's David Nalbandian.

With the confidence of winning in Nottingham, his first tour title, Gasquet believes he can go a long way at Wimbledon after demonstrating that he can compete on the surface in the Wimbledon warm-up event. And if he dares to defeat Nalbandian today he could possibly face Max Mirnyi in the quarter-finals in a re-run of the Nottingham final earlier this month that fell on his 19th birthday.

Gasquet does not believe he is playing any better at Wimbledon than he did at Nottingham, saying after his defeat of Luxembourg's Gilles Muller in the third round: "It's the same as last week because I won a tournament. I played really good there. It's the same at Wimbledon."

Joining the French teenager in the fourth round are some of the world's finest players. Gasquet is the youngest player of the elite 16 and is showing early signs that he could one day be challenging Roger Federer and Andy Roddick, the specialists of the surface. But today he must focus on Nalbandian, the hard-hitting Argentine who recovered from two sets down to defeat rising British star Andy Murray in a dramatic match on Centre Court. Nalbandian will test the young Gasquet to his physical limits, as Murray can confirm.

So a fierce shoot out will be taking place at high noon on No.2 Court today as the French teenager tries to defeat the rock that is Nalbandian. The confident teenager has made it this far and even though he has never beaten Nalbandian in two attempts, with both meetings on clay, he will be hoping to make it third time lucky over the Argentine as they meet at Wimbledon for the first time.

Written by Michael Burke-Velji

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Official Publications & DVD Available

Monday, 27 June, 2005

The Wimbledon Online Shop is pleased to offer a number of official publications online.

The 2005 Compendium, which details the history of Wimbledon through records and statistics such as detailed summaries of each years Championships and statistics of all past Wimbledon Champions, is available for £13.00.

The newly-released Ladies Singles' Champions (£9.50) is also available online. It contains biographical sketches of every champion, together with a complete statistical record of their Wimbledon performances and career highlights. This is a completely updated version of the original edition, published in 1984.

Customers can also pre-order the Wimbledon Annual 2005 (available in September 2005), the Wimbledon Final Programme 2005 (available July 2005) and the Wimbledon Official Film 2005 (available September 2005).

We hope you enjoy shopping with us here at the Wimbledon Online Shop.

Written by AELTC

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Nadal Consigns His Togs to Posterity

Monday, 27 June, 2005

French Open champion Rafael Nadal has lost his trousers in his bid to win the Gentlemen's Singles title at Wimbledon this year.

Rafael, the 6th youngest Grand Slam winner of the open era and first man in 23 years to win the French Open on his debut has agreed to donate his trousers to Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, to be displayed alongside exhibits such as the Williams' sisters winning dresses and Anna Kournikova's underwear.

The 'pirata' style trousers which Nadal wore at Wimbledon this year were delivered to the museum on Saturday. But Rafael won't be playing future matches without his trousers as he does have another pair.

The pirata pants were recently cited by Honor Godfrey, Curator of the Wimbledon Museum, as the one exhibit she would most like to display in the Museum from this year's Championships.

Honor says of the donation: "We are absolutely delighted that Rafael has decided to give us his trousers - he's the first person to wear three-quarter length trousers on Centre Court since 1927 and a true champion. We are confident that there will be many more firsts from this young man."

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, located within Centre Court, Wimbledon, is home to what is amongst the world's greatest collections of tennis memorabilia, with the oldest exhibit dating from 1555. Many items are of immense historical importance and some, not least the Championship Trophies, are unique.

Visitors can enjoy the views of Centre Court (outside of The Championship), the audio-visual theatre, and the Gallery, which currently exhibits some real gems from the poster collection from 1890 to 1940.

The Museum does not simply recount the history of the game of tennis, Wimbledon and The Championships, but reflects the state of the current game and champions of today, hopefully providing inspiration to the potential champions of tomorrow.

Outside of the tournament period the Museum runs award-winning behind-the-scenes tours of the grounds for individuals and groups which give access to areas out-of-bounds even during The Championships.

Please visit our website for further details www.wimbledon.org/museum or call 00 44 (0) 208 946 6131.

For further information concerning the regular workshops and activities at the WLTM please contact Sarah Francis at Grasshopper PR on 020 7349 3030 or email on [email protected] (mob 07879 402769).

Written by AELTC

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Petrova Pushes Past Peschke

Monday, June 27, 2005

Nadia Petrova of Russia reached a Grand Slam quarter-final for the third time in her career and the first time at Wimbledon after winning an endurance test on Court 18 against the unseeded Czech, Kveta Peschke.

Petrova recovered from the loss of the first set to win 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 in two hours and 26 minutes. It was their first meeting and the unseeded Peschke showed plenty of determination in her well sustained bid to close the gap on the eighth seeded Petrova who has previously been a quarter-finalist in the French and US Championships.

Petrova has had her best performance at Wimbledon as a result of this win. But when she lost the first set to Peschke to a backhand down the line and a forehand winner on the last two points of the tie-break the signs were less than good for the 23-year-old Russian.

But Petrova responded to the pressures of a final set by gaining command immediately to lead 3-0 and give the task of catching up to Peschke.

The Czech slipped to 5-2 behind after missing a break point but then improved her position by winning the eighth game. Petrova, however, made no mistakes with victory in sight. She won the first three points on serve, missed a first match point, and moved to the last eight when Peschke put a backhand out.

In six appearances at Wimbledon the Moscow-based Petrova has improved, especially in the past three Championships where she has gone one round further each year.

Now Petrova has to take on defending champion Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals.

Written by Barry Newcombe

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Amelie's Confidence on the Rise

Monday, 27 June, 2005

From a cursory glance at the scorecard of this match, you might think that Amelie Mauresmo had once again been in no danger of surrendering a set this Wimbledon. This was, after all, her fourth straight match here in which she required just two sets for victory. But whereas her previous three rounds were completed largely at a stroll, much of the first set against Elena Likhovtseva could have gone either way, before Mauresmo eventually wrapped up victory 6-4, 6-0.

So what does this mean? Is it bad news - that Mauresmo's wonderful form of the past week is now vulnerable? Or good - that the famously fragile Mauresmo match temperament withstood the challenge, and roared back to victory?

No shadow of a doubt, the news was definitely good. True, the Russian should have punished that early wobble more severely. But on this occasion Mauresmo got away with it, and the Frenchwoman is on course to match her last two showings here (in 2004 and 2002) when she made the semi-finals. Both times she lost to Serena Williams, which is at least a fate she knows will not befall her this time.

Anyone who watched her entire fourth round match against Likhovtseva, rather than merely the first eight games, could not fail to notice her command of the grasscourt, and especially her control at the net. After her confidence-sapping third round defeat to Ana Ivanovic at Roland Garros last month, and her first round loss at Eastbourne to Vera Douchevina, this win was just the injection of self-belief she needed in order to propel her progress here. From 4-4 she took 10 straight games for victory. No wonder she feels she is in the best grasscourt form of her career.

"Physically I feel great so far," smiled Mauresmo. "Do I have a chance? We'll see. It's always tough to see until the end. All these big tournaments are match after match, and that's what I'm trying to do. This is a very open tournament, with the top five in the world here.

"It's good to be here where the focus is not on me. The attention and the expectations are on other players. It's fine with me. I just do it my way. It's very quiet for me coming here, very different after Roland Garros.

"After Eastbourne I was still pretty confident about my game. I had to really forget about it pretty quickly and go back to practice, to make sure all these little things that were wrong in Eastbourne went the right way here. And that's what I did. So I'm very satisfied but it's not a big relief like if I was doubting a lot. I knew my game was still there - not only my service games, but also returning pretty well.

"I think I can be a Grand Slam champion. That's what I'm playing for. It's a long time since I was in the Australian Open final. I was 19. I didn't really know what I was doing. I realise more now what I need to do - just believe in myself a little bit more. Hopefully I'll keep going like this."

Written by Kate Battersby

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Navratilova Keeps on Winning

Monday, June 27, 2005

Martina Navratilova and Anna- Lena Groenefeld continued to show that they are genuine contenders for the Ladies' Doubles title with a strong team performance in the third round against the Japanese-Slovenian pair, Shinobu Asagoe and Katarina Srebotnik. They defeated their opponents in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

The crowd's appreciation of Navratilova's legacy was evident from the moment she walked on to the court. Heads turned and people were transfixed by the popular Wimbledon winner as she was greeted by applause from spectators always happy to see her competing again. Her legendary status caused congestion in the gangways around the court as nearly everyone walking past tried their hardest to squeeze into any spaces to glimpse the player.

The 20-year-old German Groenefeld and the 48-year-old American Navratilova delighted the crowd by capturing the first set swiftly. The combination of the power of the young German and the instinctive left hand of Navratilova controlling the net worked well. As early as the first service game of the match, the eighth seeds showed their ability to attack serves by taming Srebotnik's to go 1-0 up. It was not until the second game of the second set that Srebotnik held her first service game.

Although the match was finely balanced in the second set, Asagoe lost her service game towards the end of the set, leaving Navratilova the opportunity for victory. You do not need to ask her twice to serve for the match.

Navratilova last won the ladies' doubles with Pam Shriver in 1986, after victories in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984. If she was to win this year, it would be her 60th Grand Slam title. But first she and Groenefeld must face Russia's Vera Douchevina and Israel's Shahar Peer in the quarter-finals

Written by Michael Burke-Velji

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Gonzalez Tames Youzhny

Monday, June 27, 2005

Chilean Fernando Gonzalez produced his finest performance ever at Wimbledon to advance to the quarter-finals of The Championships. The No.21 seed took on Russian Mikhail Youzhny and humbled him in straight sets 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Gonzalez had defeated 11th seed Joachim Johansson in the third round and has taken just three sets to knock out each of his challengers so far. He continued the three-set win trend today against the powerful Youzhny. Despite the straight-sets scoreline, however, the match was a keenly contested and entertaining affair on Court 3.

The No.31 seeded Russian, with a big serve and powerful baseline game, looked unshakable. He matched Gonzalez's finesse with his powerful shots and delivered an inspired performance in the first set. Gonzalez, with a very similar game but with more variety and accuracy in his shots, dominated the baseline exchanges.

Nevertheless the Chilean could not break his opponent and had to wait till the tie-break for his first opportunity. He served crisply, got into a forehand-backhand rhythm and drained Youzhny. The Russian was dragged to the net and forced to take costly risks. Gonzalez raced to a 6-3 lead in the tie-break and finished it with a booming forehand.

Ahead a set, Gonzalez kept up his good serves. He regularly aced over 126mph and even clocked 134mph. Youzhny, though playing well, was outdone by the Chilean's shot selection. Serving in the fifth game Youzhny double-faulted and gifted a break point to Gonzalez, who converted it.

The Chilean, with a fondness for hardcourts seemed to be cruising for an easy takeover. However, he spilled his service game. Youzhny's fierce backhand down the line won him the game to break even. The score stood at 3-3. The duel continued and exciting tennis unfolded.

Shot-for-shot, the players matched each other. Winners were thumped from the baseline at both ends, and so were volleys. Another tie-break was inevitable and once again Gonzalez came out on top, taking the tie-break 7-5.

The Russian was both exhausted and two sets down. Gonzalez, in top form, moved in. He served more ferociously and capitalised on his opponent's floundering form. Youzhny struggled and trailed 0-5. He pulled up himself and in a brave come-back attempt took three games in a row. But it was too little too late.

Written by Sajid Shaikh

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Venus Weathers Pierce Fightback

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Venus Williams clung on in a breathtaking tie-break that went to 22 points to reach the women's semi-finals with a 6-0, 7-6 (12-10) victory over Mary Pierce on Centre Court. The win guarantees her best performance in a Grand Slam since she reached the Wimbledon final two years ago.

Fears of a one-sided, disappointing contest in difficult, breezy conditions disappeared after the opening set, which the older Williams sister galloped through in just 21 minutes at a cost of 11 points. The 12th-seeded Pierce, who had reached the French Open final earlier this month, only to be swept aside by Justine Henin-Hardenne,simply could not cope with the heavier ground strokes of Williams.

The crowd, openly siding with the 30-year-old Frenchwoman, loudly cheered her rare winners, especially one delicate drop shot, but Williams was in total control and when she also won the opening game of the second set an early finish looked on the cards.

Suddenly Pierce's thunderous forehands began to find the range and the Williams superiority was under assault. The turning point for Pierce came in the set's second game, a marathon of six deuces in which Pierce managed to hold serve for the first time on her seventh game point after the match had been in progress for 37 minutes.

If that belated success received a huge roar of acclaim, Pierce aroused hope among her many well-wishers in the crowd by going on to the attack, now holding her serve confidently and shrugging off the occasional double-fault as she strained for the big delivery.

Serving from the end opposite the Royal Box was particularly tricky in the face of the wind but Pierce held confidently to take the set to a tie-break in what had become an absorbing contest. Pierce gained the first mini-break when Williams netted a forehand, but Venus immediately annulled that advantage with a backhand drive volley on the Pierce serve.

More cheers greeted Pierce's next break of serve, as the two went on to swap set points (four for Pierce) and match points (two for Williams). Eventually, with Williams leading 11-10, having reached match point for the second time with a backhand volley, Pierce drove a backhand long. After one hour and 29 minutes, the 14th-seeded Williams, the champion here in 2000 and 2001, was through to the last four.

Written by Ronald Atkin

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Sharapova In Commanding Form

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Defending champion Maria Sharapova beat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 in one hour and 26 minutes to gain a semi-final place at Wimbledon today.

Sharapova was given a demanding first set but then the resistance from the 23-year-old Petrova faded. Sharapova was never in serious danger of losing command. The only time she was breakpoint down was in the final game as she moved to the semi-finals for a second time in three appearances in The Championships.

Second-seeded Sharapova has not dropped a set in five matches and was in little danger of doing so against Petrova in the blustery conditions on No.1 Court. Petrova has had her best Wimbledon in six attempts, moving one round further than ever before. The first set was a perfect stage for her to try to unseat the champion as she served four aces as part of her attack. Serving first, she was always in a position to put pressure on Sharapova's serve.

Petrova was only break point down once, in the ninth game, when she double faulted after Sharapova had reached deuce with a service return that hit the net cord and trickled over. But a service winner saved that situation.

In the tie-break, Petrova was unable to force the pace, with Sharapova hitting to a good length and jumping into a 6-4 lead with two set points. Petrova saved both of those, only for Sharapova to produce two forehand winners for a one-set lead after 55 minutes.

A confident Sharapova broke Petrova's serve in the second game of the second set and had lost just three points by the time she had extended her lead to 3-0. Petrova then held three service games running to stay loosely in contention but was given the chance of breaking back when Sharapova served for the match.

A double fault, the only one in the second set, put Sharapova break point down. She saved that somewhat fortuitously with a backhand that hit the net cord and fell into Petrova's court. Then Sharapova moved to match point with a forehand error from her opponent off another net cord shot and Petrova made an error in the next rally.