The second week of Wimbledon will be a virtually American-free zone after Andy Roddick and Venus Williams joined Andre Agassi in crashing out before the halfway stage.
The unexpectedly early demise of defending champion Williams and Roddick, a beaten finalist in the last two years, left the unheralded Shenay Perry to fly the Stars and Stripes on her own as the only American survivor in either the men’s or women’s singles.
Both Williams and Roddick fell on Saturday, a day which also saw Agassi check out of Wimbledon for the last time after a straight sets defeat by Rafael Nadal brought down the curtain on his farewell appearance.
Roddick, beaten in straight sets by new British hope Andy Murray, will be back next year.
But the All England club may have seen the last of Venus Williams after she was beaten by Jelena Jankovic, a Serb who spends as much time on her university studies as on her tennis, 7-6 (10/8), 4-6, 6-4.
The upset will only have added to court number two’s reputation as a graveyard for the tournament’s biggest names, as well as sparking speculation about whether Williams, three times a winner here, will ever come back.
She is already effectively a part-time player and has suggested that she will retire if, as is highly possible, injury prevents her younger sister Serena from returning to the tour.
Jankovic’s reward for the biggest win of her career was a fourth-round meeting with Russia’s Anastasia Myskina, the ninth seed.
Roddick’s verdict on the unusually poor American showing was typically pithy.
”It sucks,” he admitted.
”I’ve got used to that press conference at the French Open where we get asked how much we suck on clay.
”But it is a lot more surprising and disappointing when it is here, a place where we have all had so much success.”
Murray’s reward for what he described as the best performance of his career to date was a fourth-round meeting with Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, who accounted for 15th seed Sebastien Grosjean, a former semifinalist here, in four sets.
”If I can play like I did against Andy, I think I can win another match,” said Murray.
Nadal’s 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-4 dismissal of Agassi was a display that suggested the crown prince of Spanish tennis, who was a one-year-old toddler when Agassi made his first appearance here, could become a Wimbledon king far sooner than anyone had expected.
Nadal’s path to the quarterfinals now looks clear, with his next appointment being a fourth-round meeting with qualifier Irakli Labadze, and defending champion Roger Federer may have to revise his opinion that the Spaniard does not represent his main threat here.
Lleyton Hewitt, the 2004 champion made short work of Belgium’s Olivier Rochus 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 to book his place in the fourth round, where he will face Spaniard David Ferrer, who is seeded 23rd largely on the strength of his performances on the clay court circuit.
Hewitt, who survived an energy sapping five-set battle with Lee Hyung-Taik in the previous round, was delighted to get back to a more consistent level of performance.
”I felt I was putting lot of pressure on him right from the start,” the Australian said.
”To have gone for five sets in today’s [Saturday] heat would have taken a lot out of you. I had a tough one in the last round and it is nice to bounce back in this way.”
There were no slip-ups from top seed Amelie Mauresmo or the 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, who both swept into the last 16 with straight sets wins over Australia’s Nicole Pratt and American Amy Frazier respectively.
Sharapova, the pin-up girl of women’s tennis, will face Italian 16th seed Flavia Pennetta while Mauresmo takes on Serbian 19th seed Ana Ivanovic. — AFP
