Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova proved she has grit as well as glamour when she sent defending champion Amelie Mauresmo spinning out of Wimbledon on Tuesday.
Vaidisova won their rain-interrupted fourth-round clash 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-1 to reach her first All England Club quarterfinal to follow runs to the semifinals in the Australian Open and last eight at the French Open this year.
Marion Bartoli, the 18th seed, then rescued French pride by reaching her first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a stunning 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 dismissal of Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic.
The 22-year-old Bartoli will take on Dutch 31st seed Michaella Krajicek for a place in the last four.
”Everything went wrong, it was a shitty match,” admitted fourth seed Mauresmo.
”My serve wasn’t working well and I had some ups and downs throughout the first week. That showed more today [Tuesday] because I was playing a better opponent.”
As the 18-year-old Vaidisova was celebrating a major Centre Court shock, former US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova was cruising past Austrian 16-year-old Tamira Paszek 6-3, 6-2.
Vaidisova, whose blonde good looks have opened up a host of lucrative off-court avenues, will take on Serbian sixth seed Ana Ivanovic, who beat Russian 11th seed Nadia Petrova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, for a semi-final spot.
That tie on Court Two lasted three minutes short of two hours but, because of the rain, was spread over five hours.
”I’m getting to like grass,” said Vaidisova, the 14th seed, who has now won her last three matches with Mauresmo.
”I have great respect for Amelie but when you are on the court, you try not to think about who is standing on the other side of the net.”
Venus Williams, the three-time champion, is scheduled to face 2004 winner, and second seed, Maria Sharapova later on Tuesday with the winner of that tie to face Kuznetsova for a semifinal place.
Mauresmo, who also lost her Australian Open crown in January, sent down 13 double faults in an error-hit display against Vaidisova, who had also recovered from a set and 2-5 down to win the last time the duo met in Moscow in 2006.
She had three set points in the first set tiebreak but squandered them all, which allowed the Czech girl to edge ahead.
The 27-year-old Frenchwoman broke in the fifth game of the second set on her way to levelling the tie but crumbled in the decider and even picked up a warning for ball abuse to add to her growing frustrations.
Kuznetsova, who has reached a third Wimbledon quarterfinal, says she is playing the best grass-court tennis of her career and does not fear either Williams or Sharapova.
”They’ve been number ones and they both won Wimbledon,” said the Russian.
”They play very good on grass. But I beat Maria a few years ago on grass court.” — AFP
