Venus, Rafa and Murray into Round of 16
The down and dirty on today:
- Rafael Nadal is rolling. Rolling! Three sets later, Nicolas Kiefer is no more. I’ve never seen Rafa look so dangerous on grass. Anyone in his way is in for a serious fight if they want to move past him.
- I get such a kick out of watching Mikhail Youzhny on court. The man is just spastic or something. Whatever he is, he’s still finding a way to win. A see-saw five-setter with Radek Stepanek was more than enough to send Youzhny into his usual antics, and he just managed to come out on top (7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3).
- The Brits still have hope in the round of 16? Why, yes they do! Andy Murray dropped a set against Tommy Haas but powered his way through the final two sets to ink in an appointment with Richard Gasquet.
- Venus Williams allowed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez to work her way back into the second set, but Williams still moved on in straight sets (6-1, 7-5) to continue her march to defend her 2007 Wimbledon title.
- There was no tricks left in Dinara Safina’s wonder bag against Shahar Peer. Safina scrambled and gutsied her way back into the match to win the second set in a tiebreak after losing the first set 5-7. Safina didn’t have enough in the tank though and Peer won the deciding set at 8-6.
- Even though Safina lost, I can’t saddle her with Slacker of the Day dishonors. No one really stood out with a really poor performance so for the lack of a superstar, today we’re picking on Paul-Henri Mathieu. The 14th seed won the first set in a tiebreak but couldn’t carry the momentum any further, and Marin Cilic strung the next three sets together for the victory. Mathieu: I bid you adieu and bestow Slacker of the Day cords about your neck.
