Kiefer knocks out Kafelnikov

Wimbledon, July 1: It's definitely not autumn for the patriarch. It could be spring or, in a couple of days, he could even make it yet anot...

Wimbledon, July 1: It8217;s definitely not autumn for the patriarch. It could be spring or, in a couple of days, he could even make it yet another glorious Wimbledon summer. The old lion8217; Boris Becker, pushing 30 but playing as he is 17, eased into his pre-ordained place in the quarter-finals, whipping ninth seed Chilean Marcelo Rios in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, 7-65. He was followed into the round of eight by his pupil, Nicolas Kiefer who scalped the second seed in succession, toppling third-seed Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov in four sets 6-2, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

As boss of the German junior tennis, Becker has had some training sessions with the 19-year-old Kiefer but that seemed inconsequential considering the fact that he taught Rios a couple of lessons in grass court tennis. And when the sun shone on Centre Court perhaps for the first time in the tournament, in between rain stoppages, it was the senior German who basked in all its glory. So impeccable was his game that finding faults with his tennis would have been rather sacrilegeous. Coming to think of it, last year was the only time when he failed to reach quarter-final or more here. Ever since 1988, Becker has reached upwards of quarter-final. This year has been particularly bad for him since he was plagued with injuries as his rankings dropped to his lowest ever ranking of 18, in over a decade.

Even with the disruptions by rain which forced the players to return to the locker rooms a couple of times, Becker remained as focussed as ever.

Shedding the normal routine of serve and volley, Becker plotted his win mostly from the baseline and the none-too-frequent forays to the net, however, remained successful. For that matter, Rios, despite his loathing for grass, held the upperhand in the initial part of the third set, after he had been throughly out-thought and outplayed by the German. He broke early for a 3-0 lead and after they returned from the second rain break, Becker broke right back to pull alevel. In the tie-breaker, Rios held a mini break to go 5-3 up but that was the best he could get as Becker took the next four points to seal the match.

8220;It was a bit strange,8221; Becker said about the tie-breaker. 8220;I thought that all the three times he was going to play cross-court and he probably had the same idea of me running cross-court. So it was back and forth and we were trying to out-think the other. You should sometimes try for an easy shot. But we were both trying the difficult ones and finally at the end I decided to play a crosscourt, and that was a winner,8221; he said.

Along with Kafelnikov, the 12th seed Australian Patrick Rafter also went out in the fourth round, as fellow-Australian Todd Woodbridge created a mini upset winning 6-72, 6-4, 7-66, 6-3. This is Woodbridge8217;s first quarter-finals in Wimbledon. There are five unseeded players in the quarter-finals and at least two of them will get to the semi-finals because Kiefer meets Woodbridge and Rusedski takes on Cedric Pioline. Stich will meet the winner of Tim Henman and Richard Krajicek while Becker plays the winner of Pete Sampras and Petr Korda.

In the women8217;s third-seeded Jana Novotna defeated 11th seeded Mary Joe Fernandez 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. She now meets Indonesian Yayuk Basuki who had a straight set win over Patricia Hy-Boulais 6-0, 7-6 2. Sanchez meets Natalie Tauziat of France who beat Sandrine testud, also of France 4-6, 7-5, 12-10.

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Meanwhile, Ramesh Krishnan and Jeremy bates defeated the Amritraj brothers, Vijay and Anand in the over-35 round robin tournament 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. Men8217;s singles 4th round: 8-Boris Becker Germany bt 9-Marcelo Rios Chile 6-2 6-2 7-6 7-5, Nicolas Kiefer Germany bt 3-Yevgeny Kafelnikov Russia 6-2 7-5 2-6 6-1, Todd Woodbridge Australia bt 12-Patrick Rafter Australia 6-7 2-7 6-4 7-6 8-6 6-3.

Women8217;s singles 4th round: 1-Martina Hingis Switzerland bt Sabine Appelmans 6-1 6-3, 3-Jana Novotna Czech Republic bt 11-Mary Joe Fernandez US 5-7 6-4 7-5, 4-Iva Majoli Croatia bt 12-Irina Spirlea Romania 6-7 8-10 6-1 9-7, 8-Arantxa Sanchez Vicario Spain bt 9-Mary Pierce France 6-1 6-3. Women8217;s singles 4th round: Yayuk Basuki Indonesia bt Patricia Hy-Boulais Canada 6-0 7-6 7-2, Nathalie Tauziat France bt Sandrine Testud France 4-6 7-5 12-10, Denisa Chladkova Czech Republic bt Maria Alejandra Vento Venezuela 6-1 6-3, Anna Kournikova Russia bt Helena Sukova Czech Republic 2-6 6-2 6-3. Copyright amp;copy 1997 Indian Express Newspapers Bombay Ltd.