Despite her dislike for playing on the grass, top-ranked Russian, Dinara Safina, beat Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-1 on Centre Court which marks the first time she has advanced to the Wimbledon semifinal.

Safina was the runner-up at the French Open and the Australian Open and she played like a true champion on the hot day in London, although she did lose her cool at one point –she slammed her racquet down after committing her seventh double-fault.  Still, she managed to compose herself, regain her focus and beat Lisicki, who had to have her trainer ice her legs as she lay down on the court during the seventh set.

The Williams sisters have both made it to the semifinals which has led me to wonder if we are going to see a repeat of last year’s results with Venus winning over Serena in the finals.

Venus Williams easily secured her spot in the semifinals by beating Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-2 in just 68 minutes.  It’s not surprising considering the American’s incredible record.  She has won 33 straight sets at Wimbledon since 2007.  That’s almost inhuman!  She’s now 67-9 all-time on grass

Meanwhile, Serena Williams played a clean match against Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and walked away with a 6-2, 6-3 victory on Centre Court in 1 hour, 13 minutes.  This marks the sixth time that she has made it to the Wimbledon semifinal.  Serena is a two-time champion at the All England Club.  She battled her sister for both victories in 2002 and 2003.

Russia’s Elena Dementieva routed Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-2 on Court 1 in just 66 minutes.  It wasn’t the cleanest match for the reigning Olympic gold medalist who incurred nine double faults but she managed to finish strong with a victory.

The semifinals take place on Thursday, July 2, 2009 with the following pairings:

• Dinara Safina vs. Venus Williams (Venus is 2-1 in the three times they have met before)
• Serena Williams vs. Elena Dementieva (Elena is 3-1 in the four times they have met but Serena won their most recent battle at the Australian Open)

The women’s semifinals are definitely going to be interesting.

images: Zuma Press

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Williams Sisters, Safina Make Semis

image: TSN

Federer, who is now 69-1 in his last 70 matches on grass, defeated Soderling 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) at the All England Club.  “Today was hard to get through a really dangerous match,” Federer said. “Not many rallies, so maybe not as much fun for the people. But I stayed calm, waited for my chance.”  Federer will face Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.  Should be an interesting match since Karlovic has a massive serve and is 6’10” – I’d be terrified!

Andy Murray and Andy Roddick also advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Stanislas Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych respectively.

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Federer Advances to Wimbledon Quarterfinals

image: Zuma Press

The end of the match was predictable – Melzer and Roddick have battled nine times in the past and the Austrian has lost every single time.  Since Roddick has been the runner-up to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in both 2004 and 2005, I’m sure his mind is beginning to wonder if history will repeat itself.  Roddick will play Czech Tomas Berdych in the fourth round.

Andy Murray has also advanced to the fourth round and I’m sure the British player’s hopes have been boistered by yesterday’s 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over Serb Viktor Troicki on the Centre Court at the All England Club.  The victory only took 1 hour, 36 minutes during which Murray served 17 aces.  He is hoping to become the first male British champion at Wimbledon since Fred Perry won in 1936.  He will face Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round.

Meanwhile, unseeded Lleyton Hewitt beat Germany’s Philipp Petzschner 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.   Hewitt, who won the Wimbledon title in 2002, will face Czech Radek Stepanek in the fourth round.

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Murray, Roddick and Hewitt Advance

image: Zuma Press

Venus Williams beat her opponent, Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-4.  The straight-set victory has brought her a little closer to winning her third consecutive Wimbledon title.  Williams played like she was seeking to avenge herself after losing to Suarez in the second round at this year’s Australian Open.  Williams will next battle 13th-seeded Serb Ana Ivanovic in a fourth-round match.

Here’s a rundown of the other women’s results from Wimbledon:

• Fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova was knocked out by unseeded German Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-5.
• Ninth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki reached the fourth round for the first time by beating No. 20 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.
• Former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo beat 15th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta 7-5, 6-3.

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Oudin Upsets Jankovic at Wimbledon

Williams, who is a two-time Wimbledon champion, will go on to face Daniela Hantuchova (who beat Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 36 minutes) in the fourth round.  Williams has won six of the seven matchups with Hantuchova including two battles at Wimbledon in 2002 and 2007 (Williams won both times).

image: Zuma Press

Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Olympic gold medalist, Elena Dementieva also advanced to the fourth round after beating her her fellow Russian, Regina Kulikova 6-1, 6-2 in just 59 minutes.  It was Kulikova’s first-ever Grand Slam tournament.

Dementieva will go on to battle another Russian, Elena Vesnina.  If history repeats itself, Dementieva will take the match since she has beat Vesnina both times the women have met.

image: Zuma Press

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Serena Williams Advances To Fourth Round

Indeed, Day 3 was unkind to Sharapova who was eliminated by Argentina’s Gisela Dulko 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 on Centre Court in 2 hours, 13 minutes.  I’m sure Sharapova is beyond disappointed and frustrated with her performances recently (she’s lost three of her last five matches) but she was out with a shoulder injury for 10 months.  Maybe she just needs a little more time.

Meanwhile, former Wimbledon champ (2002 and 2003 and was runner-up to Sharapova’s 2004 victory), Serena Williams, sailed to an easy victory after punishing Australia’s Jarmila Groth 6-2, 6-1 in 58 minutes on Court 1 at the All England Club.  At least it was over quickly!

Some of the other results from the third day include Belarussian Victoria Azarenka’s 6-0, 6-0 victory over Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru.

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Williams Wins, Sharapova Ousted

Here’s how the rest of the matches went for the seeded women;

• Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic beat German Julia Goerges 6-4, 7-6 (7-0).
• Dane Caroline Wozniacki rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 win over Japan’s Kimiko Date Krumm.
• Australian Samantha Stosur beat American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2.
• China’s Li Na won 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 over Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva.

Meanwhile, on the men’s court, Andy Roddick (USA) easily beat Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3 despite appearing to lose focus in the third set.  Roddick came into the event as the sixth seed and has been the runner-up twice – he lost to Roger Federer in both 2004 and 2005.

Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro (fifth seed) also celebrated an opening-round victory after beating France’s Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-1, 6-2.  Del Potro will go on to face Lleyton Hewitt in the second round.

Other seeded winners included Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, who defeated Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-5, 7-5, 6-3, and Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko who won 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 over Britain’s Daniel Evans.

images: TSN

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2009 Wimbledon Action Continues on Day 2