Champion Roger Federer completed his 50th consecutive grasscourt
win in ten minutes on Thursday to reach the third round of
Wimbledon.
The world number one's bid to emulate Bjorn Borg's five
successive titles at the All England Club gathered momentum when he
resumed the rain-delayed clash against Argentine teenager Juan
Martin Del Potro before clinching a 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 win.
The match, which began on Wednesday, had been halt due to a
torrential downpour. But with Federer having led 6-2, 7-5, 2-0, his
progress was never in doubt.
Russian Marat Safin, seeded 26th, set up an intriguing meeting
with the Swiss by crashing qualifier Aisam Qureshi 6-4, 6-2, 7-6
(7-4) to reach the last 32 at the grasscourt grand slam for only
the third time.
Lleyton Hewitt, the only other men's champion in the draw,
romped to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 win over Simone Bolleli, while Rafael
Nadal dropped only two more games than the Australian in a 6-2,
6-4, 6-1 exhibition against Austrian Werner Eschauer.
However, Briton Tim Henman's Wimbledon dreams were finally
dashed on his fourth consecutive day of Centre Court duty as he was
beaten by Feliciano Lopez in yet another five-set thriller.
The 32-year-old fought back from two sets and a break down to
take the match into a decider, his 13th five-set battle during his
long Wimbledon career, only to lose 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5), 3-6,
2-6,6-1 to the Spaniard.
Lopez, 25, will face France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last
32.
"It was a very difficult match," said Henman, "the first two
sets I felt like I was just playing pretty solid...you play two
sets like that with no breaks, you just got to keep hanging in
there."
"In the latter part of the third and fourth sets, his game
dropped considerably.
"But then you get into the fifth, you've got ot try and maintain
the momentum. Suddenly he just hits two or three good shots in one
game and he's in the driving seat," said Henman.
On women's court, Venus Williams geared up for a potential
fourth round showdown with 2004 champion Maria Sharapova with a
6-2, 6-2 thrashing of 170th ranked Czech Hana Sromova.
The Russian second seed was even more ruthless and trampled
France's Severine Bremond 6-0, 6-3.
Just 24 hours after creating a stir at the championships by
emerging on court wearing red underwear, Tatiana Golovin discovered
that red was not really her lucky colour.
She became the highest women's seed to exit following a 6-2,
3-6, 6-1 defeat by Austrian Tamira Paszek.
Henman's match with Lopez had begun on Wednesday afternoon but
just six minutes activity was possible before the rains came down,
with the scores at one game all.
When battle resumed on Thursday lunchtime, neither player's
serve looked invulnerable, but equally neither man was returning
sufficiently well to make an impact.
A tight first two sets came down to tie-breaks, and Lopez
deservedly took both.
The first was decided when Henman double-faulted to fall 6-3
behind, and Lopez missed five break points in set two before racing
5-0 clear in the tie-break and holding off a mini fightback to take
it.
Henman looked doomed when Lopez got an early break in the third
but he finally grabbed the initiative when he broke back, glaring
at Lopez from the net as he took the key point.
A sublime backhand winner helped Henman to a 4-2 lead before he
served out the fourth set to the ovation from the stands.
With the scores level and the crowd in full voice, Lopez headed
for the locker room at the changeover. It proved a wise move as
here turned to break Henman straight away.
And with the energy of the third and fourth sets long gone there
was nothing Henman could do to stop Lopez wrapping up victory in
three hours 17 minutes.
Lopez is one of those rare Spaniards with good Wimbledon record,
having made the third round in four out of his last five
appearances, not to mention the quarter-finals in 2005.
"I feel sorry for the fans because they love him and support him
but when you go out there you want to win," said Lopez.
"It's very disappointing for him to lose with 15,000 people
supporting him."
But Henman vowed that he would "absolutely" be back at Wimbledon
next year and could see some positives from his four days of
rain-disrupted action.
"I will reflect on the two matches I played, and certainly the
Moya one. That's the tennis I want to play more regularly, and
there's no reason why I can't do that.
"As I said, I'm not going to play forever, but I'm passionate
about what I do. I love what I do. I want to make the most of
it."
(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2007)