Cloudy sky but Venus is sighted

Top seeds Lleyton Hewitt and Venus Williams hammered out stern Wimbledon warnings on Monday, ignoring gathering rain clouds to sweep into the quarter-finals in double-quick time. But Tim Henman’s Wimbledon dreams dangled by a thread on Monday before a dose of smelling salts midway through his five-set marathon saved him from a fourth round defeat by Swiss journeyman Michel Kratochvil.

Looking weak and feeble throughout, Henman — who also received leg massages from trainer Bill Norris at changeovers — dug deep to scrape a 7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory in the fading daylight on court one. They were joined by Venus’s younger sister and second seed Serena who, after her match was interrupted for nearly two hours by a heavy downpour, put a handful of indifferent performances behind her to end Chanda Rubin’s hopes with a resounding victory.

Venus walloped Lisa Raymond 6-1, 6-2 in just 48 minutes, while Hewitt reached the last eight with a tidy 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Mikhail Youzhny.

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	Bhupathi-Max win
Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi entered the fourth round of men’s doubles section after a 6-1, 7-6, 6-4 win over Julien Boutter and Sjeng Schalken.

Belgian sixth seed Justine Henin also survived a hard-fought clash with Russia’s Elena Dementieva, winning 7-6, 7-6. Daniela Hantuchova won through to the quarter-finals for the first time on Monday when she out-fought seventh-seeded Jelena Dokic 6-4, 7-5. Hewitt will take on Dutchman Sjeng Schalken in his first quarter-final.

The world No 1 has yet to drop a set at the championships — bad news for Britain’s Tim Henman who is seeded to meet the Australian in the semi-finals.

(Reuters)