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Bjorkman and Mirnyi Subdue Austrians

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

The optically challenged had to re-adjust their glasses when they turned up for a Men's Double's match between top-seeded Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi and Jurgen Melzer and Julian Knowle this afternoon.

The star quality you would expect to witness in a third round match involving the No.1 seeds was distinctly lacking.

There's no mistaking the fact that both Bjorkman and Mirnyi are respected doubles players - the Swede has won the Wimbledon Men's Doubles title for the past three years with Todd Woodbridge and Miryni finished the 2004 season ranked 10 in the world for doubles.

But the pair barely scraped through their second round match to unseeded Ashley Fisher and Chris Haggard, 6-4 in the fifth, in a match that spanned two days due to bad light. During that time Bjorkman received ice-treatment on his hand. Today the only painful aspect on show was the No.1 seeds' patchy performance in the first set.

Mirnyi, in particular, was having a bad day, especially serving in the wind. His service tosses were all over the place and he found it difficult to develop a rhythm. The Belarussian, who is fondly known on the tour as 'The Beast', was also having trouble with high backhand volleys, ditching several into the bottom of the net.

Rallies were few and far between. Bandana-clad Knowle, meanwhile, looked to be on top form, hitting cross-court winners that raced past Mirnyi into the forehand court. But despite being 3-0 down, the No. 1 seeds kept up their communication, both at the change of ends and on court where they used hand signals behind their backs to inform each other of the direction they would move during points.

As the games rolled on, the pair began to show snippets of form, much to the delight of the half-full Court 13. But the Austrians served and returned well to take the first set tie-break 7-1 and the second set 6-4.

However, the two-set deficit only served to fire up the top seeds. While Melzer and Knowle specialised in hitting winners from the back of the court in the first two sets, it was Bjorkman and Mirnyi who dominated the net to take the third and fourth. In doubles, that really is the only way to win and the pattern was repeated in the fifth.

At 5-3, a commanding backhand approach shot by Bjorkman was enough to seal the set and match in 3 hours 11 minutes, booking the pair a place into the quarter-finals.

Written by Helen Gilbert

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Ullyet and Huber Advance in Three

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

In the third round of the Mixed Doubles, Zimbabwe's Kevin Ullyett and Liezel Huber of South Africa beat Conchita Martinez of Spain and Andy Ram of Israel, 6-4, 3-6, 6-8.

Still a crowd favourite, Martinez, the 1994 Ladies' Singles champion, was given a warm welcome as she arrived on a sun-drenched Court 3 at the start of play on Day 8. The Spaniard seemed to be in a relaxed mood as she shared jokes with her partner Ram, who was semi-finalist in the Men's Doubles in 2003.

The match soon became serious, however. Huber and Martinez were both broken easily on their first service games, with the Spaniard suffering the ignominy of failing to get a single point. It was obvious that the Martinez serve was the weakest part of her game and her opponents were not subtle about taking advantage of it.

But the match would be tough for all concerned. Ully, as he is known to his fans, was next to serve and immediately taken to 0-40 before retaliating with an ace. He conceded the game with a double fault, putting the Martinez and Ram duo back into the lead. They claimed the first set, without any further breaks, 6-4.

The second set was decided by another break to the Martinez serve, despite attempts to disguise its trajectory with plenty of spin and tricky positioning. The Spaniard's second serve was such an easy target that it was returned by Huber and Ullyett without fail.

The Ullyett and Huber pairing continued to apply pressure on Martinez well into the second set, forcing her to play by herself a couple of lovely rallies that roused the crowd from their seats. Finally, Ullyett was able to prey on Martinez with an ace to take the second set.

Despite some excellent service games by the Ram in the third set, he too was broken. Martinez was broken yet again by Ullyett , who then calmly collected three match points in the next game. He took closed proceedings on the third match point, after 1 hour 53 minutes of entertaining play.

Written by Luis López

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Over 45 British doubles pair John Lloyd and John Feaver playing in their match on court 2

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British Junior Laura Peterzan in her junior Wimbledon match on court 14

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American Alexa Glatch in action against Laura Peterzan from Great Britain

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Vijay and Anand Amritraj in their over 45's doubles match on court 4

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Maria Sharapova celebrates her safe passage through to the Semi Finals after beating fellow Russian Nadia Petrova.

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Amina Rakhim in action against number one seed Viktoria Azarenka

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Number one seed Viktoria Azarenka in action in the girl's singles

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Nadia Petrova on number 1 court in her Quarter Final match against Maria Sharapova

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Argintinian third seed Leonardon Mayer serving strong

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Michael Shabaz in his defeat to Leonardo Mayer on court 16

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The number two seed Donald Young completes another victory defeating Ireland's Tristan Farron Mahon 6-1, 6-4

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They are so old for playing tennis

Ilie Nastase and Guillermo Vilas in their match against Mansour Bahrami and Gene Mayerin the 45 & over double's

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Venus Williams showing Mary Pierce that she is happy to approach the net to win the match

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Venus in high spirits after booking her place in the Semi-Finals

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Day 9 Preview

Tuesday, 28 June, 2005

We're down to the last eight in the men's singles, with eight different nations represented. It's the third year in succession that this has happened at The Championships; what a testimony to the world-wide appeal and quality of the game.

Tim Henman's early departure means that the home nation is not represented in the colourful gathering of talent, from Roger Federer, the two-time champion, to a Swede, a Spaniard and a Chilean - Thomas Johansson, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Gonzalez - who have never before marched as far as the quarter-finals of this greatest of the Grand Slams.

While it is still very much on the cards that Sunday will bring a repeat of last year's final between the number one and two seeds, Federer and Andy Roddick, Hispanophiles will be hoping for Lopez versus David Nalbandian, Francophiles will be hoping to see the consistent Sebastien Grosjean improving on his two previous semi-finals, and whatever it is you call Australian supporters (Ozzophiles?) will be hoping to see Lleyton Hewitt's back-to-front cap hot in pursuit of the treasured trophy. Should it be a Hewtt-Grosjean final we would have the first occasion on which both finalists wore their caps the wrong way round. A pub quiz gem, this.

Let us begin by assessing the prospects of the man who currently bestrides these Championships, the 23-year-old boy from Basle who means more to Swiss sport than quartz watches do to that country's economy. Federer is doubly a champion of tennis - in merit and comportment -and nothing would give your correspondent more pleasure than to see him join that select group of geniuses who have won this tournament three times in a row, apart from reporting a Henman or and Murray triumph.

Federer is tilting for his 34th successive grass court victory when he takes on the Chilean thunderball Gonzalez, who is peering towards what would be, for him, the promised land of his first Grand Slam semi-final. He is entitled to think he has a chance, not having dropped a set in four rounds so far, bombarding the opposition with 69 aces along the way. The Gonzalez serve and, what's even bigger, the Chilean's forehand, have inflicted much damage on the professional tour but they don't appear to have had effect on the Amiable Alp. Federer has won all four of their previous encounters, dropping only one set.

That grass streak of Federer's is inching him towards Bjorn Borg's mark of 41 consecutive victories. All of Borg's were marked up at Wimbledon, of course, in that incredible run between 1976 and 1981 in which he won five successive Championships and lost in the final of the sixth. Federer's 33 so far have been gained in two Wimbledons and three years of dominance at Halle. In those 33 matches Federer has lost only eight of the 92 sets he has contested. Against this sort of stuff, Gonzalez's biggest weapons in the opening match on Court One this afternoon may be reduced to popguns.

Hewitt will start the Centre Court programme against another Spanish speaker, a Spanish citizen in fact, in Lopez. Hewitt is the only men's survivor besides Federer to have tasted total triumph at The Championships, winning in 2002 before Federer moved into the driver's seat. Lopez is Rafael Nadal's chum and doubles partner and he joins distinguished company in being the first quarter-finalist from his country since Manuel Orantes in 1972.

Hewitt is not the sort to take undue note of such statistics. What is put in front of him is what he is interested in. He is therefore interested only in halting the attractive gallop of Feliciano, the only left-hander remaining form the 17 who kicked off the tournament.

For Hewitt, the all-purpose Aussie, a repeat of 2002 is what he's looking towards, mate.

Centre Court will also host the Andy Roddick battle with Grosjean which, no pun intended, is an engrossing prospect. As Roddick has been revealing in his TV commercials for a credit card company, he expects to be filling the spare seat he has purchased for the flight home from London with the Wimbledon trophy - or its half-size replica that the All England Club permit the winner to cart off into the night.

Since both men are residents of Florida, that dormitory of tennis talent, this could qualify as a "derby" match, except that all France will erupt in celebration should Grosjean sock it to Andy. Roddick has won six of their previous seven, three of them on the grass of London's Queen's Club, and is not in any mood to stop short of another shot at Federer on Sunday.

Also aiming for a repeat of 2002 is David Nalbandian, who lost to Hewitt in that year's final. The (then) unfancied Argentinian, who learned his grass court tennis on a converted cricket field in Buenos Aires, has gone on to success on all surfaces, having reached at least the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slams. His No.1 Court opponent, Johansson, is treading new ground in the last eight on his ninth appearance at Wimbledon and bidding to become the first Swedish semi-finalist since Stefan Edberg in 1993. At 30, he is the oldest man left in the draw, which goes to support Henman's argument that 30 is not too old to be winning this tournament.

Written by Ronald Atkin

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