Rafael Nadal struck a blow for Spain on the eve of the Euro 2008 final when he beat Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon on Saturday.
Second seed Nadal, bidding to become only the third man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season, won 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, 6-3 and will meet Mikhail Youzhny of Russia for a place in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, women’s second seed Jelena Jankovic limped into the last 16 and avoided joining top seed Ana Ivanovic and third seed Maria Sharapova on the All England Club scrapheap.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
“It’s always difficult to play Nicolas on a fast surface like this, so I am happy to be in the fourth round,” said Nadal, who said he would turn his attention to the soccer showdown in Vienna. “We have an unbelievable team and a very good chance. Myself and some of the other Spanish players will watch the game tomorrow [Sunday] and hope for a win.”
British 12th seed Andy Murray set-up a fourth round clash with French eighth seed Richard Gasquet, a semi-finalist last year, with a 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-2 win over Germany’s Tommy Haas.
“I maybe had the chance to win in straight sets but, apart from the last few games of the second set, I thought it was a really good match,” said Murray, bidding to become the first home men’s champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
Gasquet put out compatriot Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, while Arnaud Clement made sure of further French participation by beating Austria’s Jurgen Melzer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Germany’s Rainer Schuettler, the oldest man left in the draw at 32, reached the fourth round for the first time since 2003 with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Schuettler, now 94 in the world after reaching a career high of fifth in 2004, will face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia for a place in the quarter-finals.
Tipsarevic, who put out sixth seed Andy Roddick in the last round, defeated Russia’s 25th seed Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Jankovic escaped entering the Wimbledon black books when she came from behind to beat Danish 30th seed, and 2006 junior champion, Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to make the fourth round for the third successive year.
Had she lost, it would have been the first time in history that all three women’s top seeds had been knocked out before the end of the first week.
But her third round win came at a cost, with the 23-year-old picking up a left knee injury which puts a question mark over her fourth round match with Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn.
“I slipped and my leg went straight. I started to feel some pain. It was a struggle, so I needed treatment,” said Jankovic, who was watched from the royal box by Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar and Britain’s multiple Olympic gold medal winner Steve Redgrave. “The physio taped it, but I couldn’t move. I had to take the tape off. The physio wasn’t happy about that. Now I will have to see how it will react and I’m just hoping for the best.”
Reigning champion and seventh seed Venus Williams will face Russian Wimbledon debutant Alisa Kleybanova, who put out Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-4, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva, the world No. 154 who put out Sharapova, reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 win over China’s Peng Shuai. She will face compatriot Nadia Petrova.
Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva also went into the last 16 with a 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 win over Argentina’s Gisela Dulko.
Dementieva will face Israel’s Shahar Peer, who put out Russian ninth seed Dinara Safina, the French Open runner-up, 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 8-6.
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with
A baseball team from New Taipei City won the US Pony Palomino Division World Series yesterday in Laredo, Texas, defeating the US West representative team from Azusa, California, 2-1. Ku-Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School earned the right to represent Taiwan in the Pony Palomino (17 to 18 age group) World Series after winning this year's Wang Chen-chih Cup, a competition named after Taiwanese-Japanese baseball legend Wang Chen-chih (王貞治), also known as Sadaharu Oh. In the championship game against Azusa, Ku-Pao's starting pitcher Luo Yu-yan (羅于晏) was erratic early, giving up two hits in the bottom of the first inning, followed
Taiwanese pitcher Teng Kai-wei took the mound in New York on Saturday as the starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in his MLB season debut against the New York Mets, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing five runs. The Taiwanese right-hander struggled early, giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a three-run homer to Mets slugger Pete Alonso — his 250th career home run. However, Teng was not fazed and soon found his footing, holding the Mets scoreless in the bottom of the second and third innings. Meanwhile, Mets starter Kodai Senga of Japan made a few errors
RSS