The four top-seeded women have made the semifinals at Wimbledon which will feature a Russian versus an American player in both matches.

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

It was another great day for five-time champion, Roger Federer, as he won his fourth-round match at Wimbledon.  You almost have to feel sorry for Robin Soderling who lost for the third time this month to the Swiss superstar.

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.

It took USA’s Andy Roddick 2 hours, 53 minutes to advance to the fourth round at Wimbledon but the important thing is that he did it.  The sixth-seeded player beat 26th-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-3 despite the fact that Melzer managed to fire 26 aces.

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.

American teen, Melanie Oudin, shocked former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic by eliminating her 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2 to pull off what might be the biggest upset at the 2009 Wimbledon championships so far.  I’m not sure if the 82F/28C degree heat played a factor, though, since the pair took a 12 minute break after Jankovic called for a medical timeout.  The sixth seeded Serbian star had to lay on the court for a little while with a blood pressure cuff on her arm.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, she called another timeout later for her left foot.  Basically, it was a nightmare for Jankovic but a dream come true for Oudin who had never one a Grand Slam match.

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.

For the second year in a row, former No. 1 Maria Sharapova was eliminated at Wimbledon in the second round.  The 22-year-old Russian star won the tournament in 2004 but hasn’t been able to recapture that magic since.

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.

image: Zuma Press

Roger Federer comes into this years Wimbledon championships as a five-time winner (runner-up in 2008) and it showed in today’s opening round when the Swedish tennis star celebrated an easy 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 win over Taipei’s Yen-Hsun in 1 hour 45 minutes on the Centre Court at the All England Club.

image: Zuma Press

I’m sure most people could have predicted the victory but I’m not sure what to expect from the rest of the tournament.  I think that, like the 2009 French Open, it might be easier for Federer to take the top prize since rival, Rafael Nadal, bowed out with knee problems.  Nadal upset the former No. 1 at Wimbledon last year in a stunning match that ended Federer’s 40-match winning streak.

If you missed today’s match, you might like seeing this great shot by Federer.  He really is amazing.

The top-seeded tennis players for Wimbledon have been announced and I can’t say that it’s much of a shocker.  Defending champion, Rafael Nadal and 2009 French Open runner-up, Dinara Safina, have been seeded No. 1 for the British tournament.

image: Zuma Press

This announcement comes amid reports that Nadal will be testing out his injured knees at two exhibition matches the Hurlingham Club (grass court) in London this week.  Nadal exited the French Open earlier than expected and had to withdraw from the pre-Winbeldon tuneup at Queen’s Club.

The top six spots in the men’s list as as follows:

1. Rafael Nadal
2. Roger Federer
3. Andy Murray
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Juan Martin Del Porto
6. Andy Roddick

The top six spots in the women’s list as as follows:

1. Dinara Safina
2. Serena Williams
3. Venus Williams
4. Elena Dementieva
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova
6. Jelena Janković

The 2009 Wimbledon Championships will take place from June 22, 2009 – July 5, 2009.

Rafael Nadal has done it again. On Sunday (April 26), he won his fifth straight title at the Barcelona Open against Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 7-5. Last week, he won his fifth straight title at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Ferrer was having an inconsistent serving game and Nadal used that for his advantage.

The four-time defending French Open champion goes into the Rome Masters on a 25-match unbeaten run with only three defeats in his last 133 matches on clay.

Nadal and Ferrer traded breaks in the first two games before Ferrer’s service game became erratic—he hit four double faults—and Nadal broke him twice more to take a 5-1 lead.

Nadal rifled an ace down the middle to take the set. Ferrer managed only four winners alongside 16 of his 41 unforced errors.

I imagine Nadal has put some fear into the men of tennis. He seems unbeatable right now.

In other Rafael Nadal news, he has given the new roof at Wimbledon the thumbs-up. He had no problem with the club’s decision to introduce the covering for the event this year.

"I saw a picture and it looks good," said Nadal. "I think it’s a good option but I hope we don’t need to use it."

He went on to talk about his final in Barcelona and Wimbledon.

"I didn’t have any tough games except the final in Barcelona," said Nadal. "So I’m not tired. I hope I can continue to play well two weeks in a row.

"I love this tournament, I won it three times in the past and I would love to win it again.

"I’m going to try my best every day knowing that (Roger) Federer, (Andy) Murray and Novak Djokovic are also good on clay."

Source: Press Association

Image Credit: Newscom

The Beijing Games may be history, but the people of London are hard at work on the venues for the 2012 Games, which begin July 27, 2012. Below are just a few of the 34 stadiums, arenas, and other venues that will be used for the London Games.

The London Aquatics Centre

Eton Dorney - Olympic Rowing, Kayak, and Canoe Venue

Olympic Stadium

Wembley Stadium - Olympic Football Venue

Weymouth-Portland, Olympic Sailing Venue

Wimbledon - Olympic Tennis Venue