Andy Murray fans were trying to stay cool in soaring temperatures as they began counting down the minutes before they can tune in for their hero’s prime time appearance.
Before the attention turned to Murray’s latest test in trying to become Britain’s first men’s singles champion in 73 years, the spectators flocking into the All England Club caught a brief glimpse of Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic.
She wisely opted not to spend too much time topping up her tan on Court Two as she hurried past Australian Samantha Stosur 7-5, 6-2 in just 70 minutes to book a place in the fourth round.
Playing with her right knee taped up, 2007 Wimbledon semi-finalist Ivanovic broke early, but failed to put the pressure on and could have lost the set.
She lost her serve at 4-3 up and the Australian No. 1, a surprise semi-finalist at Roland Garros, held serve to leave Ivanovic serving to stay in the set.
She held her serve and took a 6-5 lead when Stosur double-faulted. Ivanovic then won the set with two set points to spare when Stosur sent a backhand into the net.
Though Stosur was serving slightly faster than the Serbian No. 2, Ivanovic was getting more first serves on target and converting far more points on her first serve.
Ivanovic broke in the first game of the second set and raced into a 5-1 lead. She missed a match point at 5-1 as Stosur held on to make it 5-2, but Ivanovic won the next game to progress to the fourth round.
Holder Venus Williams also powered into the fourth round by crushing Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-4.
The 29-year-old American allowed the world No. 34 a brief glimmer of hope in the second set when some uncharacteristic forehand errors crept into her game, but she then pounced on her opponent’s slow serve to break for 5-4.
Suarez Navarro, who knocked Williams out of the Australian Open in the second round in January, sealed her fate after 1 hour, 21 minutes when she hit a forehand wide.
Third seed Williams, seeking a sixth singles title at Wimbledon, will play Ivanovic for a place in the quarter-finals.
Also in the women’s singles, ninth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki beat Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-2.
In the women’s doubles, another Taiwanese was knocked out of the championships when Alla Kudryavtseva and Monica Niculescu defeated Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and her partner Sania Mirza 6-2, 6-3 on Court 5.
As the temperature edged above 28ºC, many people struggled to cope with the stifling heat.
While players wrapped ice packs around their necks to stay cool and others needed attention from trainers for heat exhaustion, spectators used everything from tickets to programs to fan themselves.
With six days of unbroken sunshine at this year’s championships, it was little surprise hats and visors were flying off the shelves at the official Wimbledon shop and the demand for umbrellas was almost non-existent.
While the rest of the world is counting pennies and struggling to find ways to beat the credit crunch, global political leaders could learn a lesson or two from those who run the grass court championships.
In this corner of England, the mantra seems to be “recession, what recession?” as record crowds continue to turn up at this year’s tournament.
Over the first five days, 222,832 people had attended the tournament, an increase of 21,446 from last year.
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