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Journalism of Courage
World number one Rafael Nadal had to fight his way through yet another five-set marathon on Saturday,finally wearing down German Philipp Petzschner 6-4 4-6 6-7 6-2 6-3 to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon. Nadal,taken the distance by Dutchman Robin Haase in the previous round,had never before had to win two five-set matches to reach the last 16 in a grand slam before.
The Spaniard,who could not defend his Wimbledon title last year because of a knee injury,was not moving freely. He kept having to call for the trainer and looked in discomfort toward the end of the epic encounter. He moved one step closer to another dream final against Roger Federer but it was a draining match to take him into the second week. Next up for Nadal is Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.
Williams serves warning
Earlier,defending champion Serena Williams put on a serving clinic Saturday,hitting 20 aces in a straight-sets win over Dominika Cibulkova. The top-seeded American had at least two aces in each of her eight service games and overpowered the 46th-ranked Slovak 6-0,7-5 in the days first match on Centre Court. Williams won 37 of 43 service points and held at love five times. She won 19 of her first 20 service points,with Cibulkova putting only four returns in play in that stretch.
The first set lasted just 18 minutes,with Williams winning 25 of 31 points,serving six aces and hitting 12 winners. Impressive,given that Cibulkova was a semi-finalist here last year.
The American faces former champion Maria Sharapova in the fourth round after the Russian defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 7-5 6-3. After the opening four games went against serve,Sharapova turned up the decibel level several notches as she tried to get a foothold in the match. It took the Russian 16th seed another eight games to break Zahlavova Strycova,who took out her anger by slamming her racket to the ground twice.
Also Saturday,seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska advanced with a 6-3,6-1 win over Sara Errani of Italy. In a mild upset,14th-seeded Victoria Azarenka a quarterfinalist here last year squandered a chance to serve out the first set and was ousted 7-5,6-0 by Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic. A marquee womens fourth-round match on Monday will feature Belgians Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters,who are 12-all in career meetings.
Soderling has it easy
Meanwhile,Swedens Robin Soderling bulldozed his way into the second week of Wimbledon for the second year running with a 6-4 6-2 7-5 victory over 25th seed Thomaz Bellucci on Saturday. The sixth seed found the Brazilian a tough nut to crack in the opening set but made the breakthrough with his first break point to clinch the set in game 10 after a display of violent hitting from both players on a warm but cloudy day on Court One.
