London: Three-time Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick lost in the third round on Saturday, beaten by No. 7-seeded David Ferrer of Spain 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4, 6-3. The 30th-seeded Roddick blew a kiss to the crowd at Centre Court as he left. Roddick, whose 2003 US Open victory was the last Grand Slam title for an American man, was broken four times. He had been on a seven-match winning streak, including...
11:54 PM, Jun 30, 2012
London: Tenth seed Sara Errani crashed out of Wimbledon on Saturday against wildcard Yaroslava Shvedova, who became the first player to win every point in a set at the tournament. Shvedova won 6-0, 6-4 and utterly dominated the first set of the third-round match, preventing her Italian opponent from winning even one of the 24 points. The match pitted together two sensations of the French Open in Errani, a surprise...
10:01 PM, Jun 30, 2012
London: Serena Williams hit 23 aces, held every service game and barely escaped an upset bid by Zheng Jie, winning 6-7 (5), 6-2, 9-7 on Saturday in the third round at Wimbledon. Meanwhile, second-ranked Victoria Azarenka broke little sweat to brush aside Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-3, 6-3. Williams, who erased all six break points she faced, served three times to stay in the match and held each time at...
09:24 PM, Jun 30, 2012
London: Recent French Open champions Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone reached the fourth round at Wimbledon with victories on Saturday. Ivanovic had a much tougher time. The 14th-seeded Ivanovic, whose only Grand Slam title came in Paris in 2008, came back from a set down to beat 22nd-seeded Julia Goerges 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Defending champion Petra Kvitova wasn't challenged a bit, getting to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-0...
08:16 PM, Jun 30, 2012
London: Indian tennis stalwarts Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who were locked in a selection row for the London Olympics recently, saw their fortunes take different turns on Saturday with the former reaching the third round of the men's doubles event while the latter crashed out of mixed doubles competition of the Wimbledon here. The French Open champion pair of Bhupathi and Sania Mirza, who later joined the selection row...
06:02 PM, Jun 30, 2012
Wimbledon: The Centre Court roof at Wimbledon closed Friday just as the sky was clearing up, and three matches were then played indoors without any rain falling outside. A day earlier, the roof was shut in dry weather as well, causing a 45-minute suspension after the fourth set of Rafael Nadal's stunning second-round loss to ensure the match could be completed under the lights as darkness fell. Those decisions have...
08:20 AM, Jun 30, 2012
Wimbledon: Roger Federer overcame a two-set deficit on Friday at Wimbledon to avoid his earliest Grand Slam exit since 2004. The six-time champion found himself two points from defeat on six occasions but survived a tense fourth-set tiebreaker and beat Julien Benneteau in the third round, 4-6, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 7-6 (6), 6-1. "It was a tough match," Federer said. "Oh my God, it was brutal. Obviously, a bit of...
08:01 AM, Jun 30, 2012
London: Kim Clijsters reached the fourth round of Wimbledon on Friday when 12th-seeded Vera Zvonareva retired with an apparent respiratory problem when trailing 6-3, 4-3. Zvonareva was coughing loudly during the match and the 2010 finalist was in tears as she needed a medical timeout at 2-1 in the second set. The trainer took her pulse and she was examined with a stethoscope before resuming play, but had to retire...
10:36 PM, Jun 29, 2012
Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic is tough to beat at Wimbledon, indoors or out. Playing the day's first Centre Court match on Friday under the retractable roof, defending champion Djokovic rallied past Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. When a drizzle delayed the start of the third round, tournament officials decided Djokovic's match should be played inside. An odd spectacle ensued: The roof closed as the sun came out and outside court...
09:10 PM, Jun 29, 2012
London: India's Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Friday notched up a straight-set victory to advance to the third round of the women's doubles competition at the Wimbledon here. The 13th seeded Indo-US duo scored a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 win over unseeded French pair of Stephanie Foretz Gacon and Kristina Mladenovic in just 55 minutes at the All England Club here. Sania and Bethanie converted three of...
07:58 PM, Jun 29, 2012
London: Tennis authorities will tackle the perennial problem of grunting players - but it could take years to turn down the volume. So do not throw the earplugs away quite yet and if your daughter is a four-year-old tennis prodigy, make sure she keeps the noise down. Talks are underway to arm umpires with handheld "grunt-o-meters" on court, so that they can assess how loud shrieks are. Such devices are...
02:30 PM, Jun 29, 2012
London: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France overcame a sluggish start to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in four sets and advance to the third round of Wimbledon. The fifth-seeded Tsonga, who defeated Roger Federer on his way to the semifinals at the All England Club last year, hit 40 winners in a 6-7 (3) 6-4 6-1 6-3 victory on Court 3. The hard-hitting Tsonga never lost his serve and converted five of 10...
01:01 PM, Jun 29, 2012
London: Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer return to centre stage at Wimbledon on Friday hoping to avoid the fate that befell Rafael Nadal who was sent packing by little known Czech gun-slinger Lukas Rosol. The two remaining members of tennis's big three will know that whoever reaches this year's final will be an overwhelming favourite given the Mallorcan's battler's shock demise under the Centre Court lights on Thursday. "It is...
09:24 AM, Jun 29, 2012
Wimbledon: Chasing a drop shot in the second set, Rafael Nadal stumbled and tumbled into the net as his racket went flying to the sideline. It just wasn't his day. Nadal rose slowly to cheers from the Wimbledon crowd but found himself off balance the rest of the way and made his earliest Grand Slam exit since 2005. Nadal was overpowered in the second round Thursday by Lukas Rosol, a...
03:46 AM, Jun 29, 2012
Wimbledon: Defending champion Petra Kvitova advanced to the third round of Wimbledon by beating Elena Baltacha of Britain 6-0, 6-4 on Thursday. Kvitova breezed through the first set in just 22 minutes and broke two more times in the second against the 101nd-ranked Baltacha. Kvitova beat Maria Sharapova in last year's final but has yet to reach a title match in 2012, although she reached the semifinals of both the...
01:57 AM, Jun 29, 2012
London: Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek brushed aside the challenge of Colin Ebelthite and John Peers in straight sets to progress to the second round of the men's doubles event of the Wimbledon championships here on Thursday. The fourth seed Indo-Czech pair scored an easy 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win over the unseeded Australian combination in just one hour 31 minutes at court number seven. Paes and Stepanek converted three of...
11:22 PM, Jun 28, 2012
Wimbledon: Andy Murray managed to deal with Ivo Karlovic's hard serve to eliminate the Croat 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (4) on Thursday and reach the third round of Wimbledon. Murray gave the home crowd at Centre Court a brief scare when he was broken in his first service game, but he held serve the rest of the way and broke Karlovic four times. Murray once again carries the hopes...
10:59 PM, Jun 28, 2012
