Venus Williams Through After Ana Ivanovic Retires
30 June 2009
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It was a good day for sisters Venus and Serena Williams as they both made it through their fourth round encounters with minimum fuss.
Defending champion Venus was facing former French open champion Ana Ivanovic and was leading 6-1 1-0 when her opponent was forced to retire from the match with a thigh injury.
Ivanovic’s season has just gone from bad to worse as she has struggled with injury in recent weeks which saw her unable to defend her French Open title and slip down the rankings.
But it was an easy passage through for Serena who saw off Laura Robson’s first round conquer Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets.
While the pair traded breaks in the first set, a set which did go to Williams, it was one way traffic after that as she opened up a 4-0 lead in the second set.
Although Hantuchova did get on the scoreboard at 5-1 it was too later as Williams served out the set securing the win in under an hour.
Venus will now face Agnieszka Radwanska as she enjoyed a straight forward straight set win over Melanie Oudin, who saw off Jankoivc, I straight sets 6-4 7-5.
While Serena will play the noisy Victoria Azarenka who beat Petrova 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 6-3 in a match tarnished with issues.
Teenage Azarenka threw her toys out of the pram when a line call didn’t go her way sarcastically going over to the line judge to shake their hand.
But her better play in the end saw her cross the finishing line.
The big shock of the day came as Danish Caroline Wozniacki, who triumphed at Eastbourne and was the number nine seed, crashed out of the competition to Sabine Lisicki.
And German Lisicki’s great run here at the tournament continues after she put our current French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the previous round.
A little bit of history was made today as Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo became the first match to play under the new roof on Centre Court.
Safina got off to the better start against the former champion as she raced to a 3-0 lead but the French woman’s experience on Centre Court told as she battled back to finally take the first set.
But the world number one refused to be down hearted, despite being broken at the beginning of the second set, as she raced to a 4-1 lead. The match was interrupted by rain and the players left the court as the roof was put in place.
Back under the new roof and Safina wrapped up the second set to level the match.
Into the third set and the boot was on the other foot as Mauresmo opened up a 3-0 lead and it looked like Safina’s wait for her maiden Grand Slam title would have to wait a bit longer as errors began to creep into her game.
But the world number one staged a comeback as she levelled the match with some impressive back hands. A t 4-4 Safina managed to convert a second break point to leave her serving for the match.
Two poor returns from Mauresmo and the match was over and Safina progresses into the quarter finals.
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