Wimbledon 2010: Federer, Nadal and Djokovic sail through, Hewitt and Roddick out
Manic Monday had a line up of all the top tennis stars battling it out on the court to secure a place in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. The sun was shining bright as all fourth round matches had to be finished to make the schedule for the quarterfinals. All the top seeds were in full form trying to win over yet another obstacle in their path to victory. Day Seven proved to be a lucky outing for all the top seeds with the exception of fifth seed Andy Roddick, who was stunned by unknown Lu Yen-Hsun and Lleyton Hewitt. All the other seeds wanted to get through their matches quickly and with ease to conserve their energy for the forthcoming big matches.
Roger Federer stepped out into the spotlight on his favourite playing arena, Center Court. His opponent was the sixteenth seed from Austria Jurgen Melzer. Federer came into this match wanting to maintain his momentum. He had five and four-set-matches in his first two rounds and with his three set win in the third match he was looking to do the same in round four. Melzer had reached his career best at Wimbledon this year but his journey was put to an end by the defending champion. Federer seemed to get his game back and he trounced the Austrian 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. In true Federer style, the Austrian was shown the door in just an hour and twenty four minutes. With this win Federer is now tied with Pete Sampras for the total number of grand slam matches won. The defending champion turned on the heat from the time the chair umpire said “play”. He whipped up the first three games in just six minutes and in twenty four minutes the first set went to Federer. The rest of the match was one sided and Melzer could not face up to the champion who was in full form. With this win Federer sent warning signals to those who thought the reign of Federer was nearing its end.
Second seed Rafael Nadal followed suit. After undergoing two consecutive five set matches, there was some respite for him in round four. Court Number One was witness to some brilliant tennis coming from the racquet of Nadal as he blistered past Paul Henri Mathieu 6-4,6-2,6-2. This was the tenth time these two players met and the tenth time Mathieu stared at defeat. Nadal has not lost a match at Wimbledon since the 2007 final and looks to continue his winning form. He looks unstoppable as he made Mathieu run all across the court. Mathieu’s twenty-one unforced errors did not help his cause either as Nadal was very soon all over the Frenchman. In exactly two hours, much to his liking, Nadal had made a place for himself in the quarterfinals.
Novak Djokovic was faced with a tough challenger in round four. He has to go past Halle winner Lleyton Hewitt to secure a place in the quarterfinals. Djokovic was aggressive from the start but Hewitt was not far behind. Both players rallied from behind the baseline and the sets were on serve. In both sets, it seemed as if a tie break was inevitable, but errors from Hewitt’s racquet cost him the first two sets 7-5, 7-5. But in the fourth game of the third set a bout of illness overcame Djokovic who called in a doctor for treatment. Errors started pouring in from Djokovic, but somehow Hewitt could not convert them all. In fact it was Djokovic’s error that cost him the third set and not Hewitt’s master play. Despite Djokovic’s illness and sluggishness Hewitt could not capitalize. Hewitt’s untimely double fault and errors finally cost him the match as Djokovic won the fourth set 6-4.
Other seeds who sailed smoothly into the quarterfinals were British wonder kid Andy Murray who needed just three sets to close the door on American Sam Querry 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. Robin Soderling has set up a rematch in the French Open final against Rafael Nadal after beating David Ferrer in an epic five setter 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. The lone Frenchman who reached the quarterfinals was Jo Wilfried Tsonga who beat fellow countryman Julien Benneteau 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
With the men’s fourth round now over and most top seeds proceeding to the quarterfinals, many epic battles will be fought to edge closer to the coveted trophy. The next few days will be action packed at SW19.
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