Wimbledon Diary Day 7
Originally published on: 27/06/11 23:32
Let’s start with the women, where Maria Sharapova cruised through 6-4 6-2 against Peng Shuai. At the time of her post match press conference she did not know who she would be playing, but had it been Caroline Wozniacki she had commented that “She’s someone that’s No. 1 in the world, so there is no doubt you have to step up for that. She’s playing the best tennis of her career. She’s young and hungry to get a Grand Slam.” But no, not that hungry it seems as the No.1 seed was dumped out by Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova after falling to a 1-6 7-6 7-5 defeat.
Speaking after her match, the World No.1 was very candid about her loss. “I did my best and it wasn’t good enough,” and when asked what she’d be doing next she replied, “Uhm, well, I haven’t really thought about that yet. I was still hoping I was going to be in the tournament after today”.
It’s rare to focus on the losers of the day, but it clearly is the end of two of the big stories of the women’s game as both Williams sisters departed the tournament today, (at least they can fly home together). First Serena was beaten 6-3 7-6 by an inspired Marion Bartoli who admitted afterwards that she loves to win, or rather hates to lose: “I mean, I hate to lose. This starts when I was maybe five or six years old on everything I was doing. When it was just a matter of winning, it was playing Monopoly or cards with my brother or whatever, I was staying there”.
Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova saw off Venus 6-2 6-3 to set up a quarter final against Petra Kvitova, which will be played first on Court No.1. Victoria Azarenka defeated Nadia Petrova. Sabine Lisicki, who defeated Petra Cetkovska faces Marion Bartoli first on Centre Court.
Andy Murray won a few more friends today off court following his 7-6 6-3 6-2 defeat of Richard Gasquet . His impromptu bow to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as he left Centre Court looked good and he joked afterwards: “If I’d known they were coming, I would have shaved. I was thinking to myself as I came off I was sweaty and very hairy. I said to them, I’m sorry, I’m a bit sweaty.” No doubt he was pleased to get the job done reasonably swiftly, shower and leave the other chaps to fight it out.
Feliciano Lopez defeated Lukasz Kubot 3-6 6-7 7-6 7-5 7-5 so he faces Andy Murray next. Talking about his quarterfinal opponent and friend he said, “Well, what can I say about Andy? He’s a great player. He had an easy win, straight sets today, so he must be very confident.” Shame about his mum, he might have added, of the woman who has dubbed him Deliciano!
Novak Djokovic eased through against Michael Llodra, pleased not to have hung around he said: “It felt great, especially after the long match that I had against Baghdatis, too “
On No. 1 Court, after Djokovic, Roger Federer dropped a set against Michail Youzhny but came through 5-7 6-3 6-3 6-3. Mardy Fish defeated Tomas Berdych on Court 2 7-6 6-4 6-4 and is the only American left in the tournament. On Court 3 Jo Wilfried Tsonga defeated David Ferrer and on Court 18, teenager Bernard Tomic ended Xavier Mailsse’s tournament
And although Rafael Nadal came through against Juan Martin del Potro with a 7-6 3-6 7-6 6-4 triumph, he is off to have an MRI scan on his foot, and he made no secret he didn’t know how bad it was. “I felt really bad during I felt that the half of the first set. With [the score at] 6-5, I felt terrible, no? I felt that I broke my foot at that moment. Ouch! He plays Fish next and he said of his quarter final opponent.” He’s playing at a very, very high level. He’s very dangerous player, so I will try my best to be very competitive on Wednesday.”
And so manic Monday came to a close, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge went home, Andy Murray might have got his razor out and poor old Rafa trudged off for an x-ray. Another fascinating day in SW19. Until tomorrow…
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