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Mauresmo, Jankovic knocked out of rain-plagued Wimbledon |
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09:59, July 04, 2007 |
Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo was bundled out by Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova, while third-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic lost to France's Marion Bartoli in Tuesday's fourth-round action at a wet Wimbledon.
Mauresmo, seeded fourth, lost her 10-match winning streak at the All England Club as she crashed 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-1 to the 18-year-old on Centre Court on yet another rain-interrupted day atthe year's third Grand Slam event.
The 14th-seeded Czech appeared in last year's French Open and this year's Australian Open semis.
Vaidisova will now play her first-ever Wimbledon quarterfinal, where she will meet French Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, who held off 11th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
An 18th-seeded Bartoli, 22, stunned Jankovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to reach her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal, revenging a 6-1, 6-1 rout to Jankovic in the fourth round at last month's Roland Garros.
The 22-year-old Jankovic has been one of the top players on thewomen's tour this season, capturing four titles and landing in theFrench Open semis.
"Everything went wrong today," said a disappointed Mauresmo after the match.
"I'm struggling to get the confidence back. That's probably an explanation to what I produce in terms of tennis today."
Mauresmo has been urgently in search of her old form following an appendicitis operation in March which kept her off the tour fortwo months and, as ever, her right leg was bandaged to help cope with her long-term adductor strain.
She had come through three rounds comfortably enough but in thehard-hitting Vaidisova, who beat her at the French Open last year,Mauresmo ran into the sort of opponent able to undermine her fragile confidence with a stream of hard-struck shots from the baseline.
After dropping a tough first set via tiebreak, Mauresmo fought back to sneak out a second-set victory and force a deciding third in between rain drops.
But the former world No. 1 came up flat in the final stanza, and bowed out by dumping one final forehand return into the net after 2 hours, 20 minutes of tennis.
"I'm just disappointed about losing this match," she said. " Especially the way I played or I wasn't able to play today. This is even more frustrating, I think."
Fifth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova eased into the quarterfinals by dousing 16-year-old rising Austrian Tamira Paszek6-3, 6-2 in 54 minutes while a marquee battle between former champions Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams was suspended until Wednesday because of rain.
The 23rd-seeded Venus was leading 30-15 in the first game of the bout when the players were whisked off Court 3.
Rain also extended Rafael Nadal's third-round match, scheduled to start three days' ago, into Wednesday but 2002 champion LleytonHewitt of Australia was lucky enough to finish his clash with Guillermo Canas of Argentina with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory andstorm into the last 16.
Hewitt will next meet the winner between Germany's Nicolas Kiefer and Serbia's fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic, who were tied atone set each.
Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, former French Open champion, beat Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) and will meet Roger Federer in the quarterfinals.
Federer, chasing his fifth straight title, got a bye into the last eight after Tommy Haas withdrew with a stomach injury, and will have had four days' rest by Wednesday.
"Physically he's very good, so it doesn't matter if he played today or not," Ferrero said of Federer.
In the other fourth-round match taking place on Tuesday, Andy Roddick, the No. 3 seed from the U.S., led Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-5 when play was called off.
Sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia beat France's Gael Monfils in straight sets 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 for a berth in the last 16.
Source: Xinhua
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