Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun and his partner Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia advanced to Wimbledon’s round-of-16 in the men’s doubles on Saturday, a day after Lu made history by reaching the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament singles for the first time.
Lu and Tipsarevic fought past sixth-seeded Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marchin Matkowski of Poland 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 12-10 in the second round of the men’s doubles.
Last year, Lu made his debut in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon, but was defeated in the first round.
PHOTO: CNA
On Friday, he became the first Taiwanese man to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam singles competition when his third-round opponent withdrew in the third set because of an injury. It was Lu’s best performance since he began competing in Grand Slam tournaments in 2004.
His previous best efforts at Wimbledon were when he reached the second round in 2004 and 2005. He also reached the third round of the Australian Open last year.
In the mixed doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her partner, Bruno Soares of Brazil, sealed their second win to reach the round-of-16.
The duo defeated 13th-seeded Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 7-6, 6-4 in the second round.
The victory came a day after Hsieh and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia ousted China’s Zhang Shuai and Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi in the women’s doubles to advance to the round-of-16.
With the win, Hsieh became the only Taiwanese female player to remain at Wimbledon.
She told Central News Agency that it was the third time she had teamed up with Soares and that they had played a good game on Saturday.
Asked about her chances, Hsieh said: “I will do my best to win.”
Hsieh, who reached a pinnacle as a pro when she advanced to the fourth round of the women’s singles at the Australian Open in 2008, said she enjoys playing with male players and that she has learned to improve her skills by playing mixed doubles.
Also on Saturday, Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and Olga Govortsova of Belarus lost to Russian pair Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva 4-6, 7-5, 5-7 in the second round of the women’s doubles.
It was Chuang’s fourth appearance in the doubles at Wimbledon. Her best effort was in 2007, when she reached the third round with her compatriot Chan Yung-jan.
In the men’s singles, Rafa Nadal tamed his fury after a rare warning for coaching to come through another five-set test at Wimbledon in a tasty hors d’oeuvres before home favorite Andy Murray’s clinched a place in the round-of-16, beating Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
As the world No. 1 was grinding away over five sets for the second time in three days, Serena Williams was looking forward to a round-of-16 clash with Maria Sharapova, a repeat of the 2004 final, after another win of embarrassing ease.
Not a lot gets to the ice-cool Nadal, but Philipp Petzschner’s crisp hitting, audacious net forays and an extraordinary call from chair umpire Cedric Mourier had the Mallorcan hot under the collar.
One adoring fan held up a banner declaring: “Rafa I’ll have your babies,” but Nadal was more likely to be giving his supporters kittens the way he was playing.
Nadal leveled an admonishing finger at Mourier when he was called at 2-2 in the deciding set for a little too much chatter with coach Toni Nadal in his titanic clash on Centre Court, but the 2008 champion, who needed several visits from the trainer for a niggling pain in his left knee, kept his focus and ousted the German 6-4, 4-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3.
“His serve was unbelievable all match, but I changed strategy in the fourth set, in the end I played well,” said the 24-year-old Spaniard, who faces unseeded Paul-Henri Mathieu of France for a place in the quarter-finals today.
As for the niggling pain in his knee.
“I will be fine, it’s not a big problem, a long season for me, I played lot of matches. Five-set match two days ago, [another] today, that’s tough, I’m happy to be in the fourth round,” he said.
Nadal will have been among the men’s seeds who anxiously checked the draw earlier this week to see just where they might run into Robin Soderling, who confirmed his genuine title credentials with another display of violent hitting.
Soderling, a potential quarter-final opponent for Nadal, battered 15 aces in a bulldozing two-hour performance against Brazilian 25th seed Thomaz Bellucci, winning 6-4, 6-2, 7-5.
The Swede, a player transformed since two appearances in the French Open final, is bidding to become the first Swede to reach the final since Stefan Edberg in 1990.
“I played well today and despite it only being three sets, it was tough,” said Soderling, one of only three men yet to drop a set in the tournament.
To reach the quarters for the first time, Soderling must next beat David Ferrer after the Spanish ninth seed came from 4-2 down in the fifth set to beat Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Chardy’s defeat was a rare low point for the French, with 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga leading the charge alongside Mathieu and Julien Benneteau, who also won on Saturday.
One Frenchman mercifully heading for an ice bath and a sleep is Nicolas Mahut.
The player who will long be remembered as the loser of tennis’ longest-ever match earlier this week against John Isner also bowed out of the doubles with partner Arnaud Clement.
Serena Williams’ victory sets up a mouthwatering clash against Sharapova, who shrieked her way past Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in straight sets.
“I love playing against her,” said Sharapova, with not a trace of irony, after her hard-fought 7-5, 6-3 win. “I love playing against the defending champion. There are always wonderful memories [of her 2004 win], but you’ve got to start from scratch.”
Caroline Wozniacki, the Danish third seed, continued her quiet dash through the draw with a 7-5 6-4 win over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Organizers slapped a US$15,000 fine for unsportsmanlike behavior and tanking on Romanian Victor Hanescu for his show of petulance on Friday.
The 31st seed spat in the direction of the crowd and retired at 3-0 in the deciding set of his third-round match against Germany’s Daniel Brands after deliberately firing a string of double-faults. The fine will be deducted from his prize money.
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