Former world number one Marat Safin sent third seed Novak Djokovic crashing out of Wimbledon on Wednesday while Ana Ivanovic narrowly escaped falling into the same All England Club black hole.
Safin, a US Open and Australian Open champion during his glory days before a slump in form sent his ranking into freefall, stunned the 21-year-old world number three 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 with a magical Centre Court display.
Over on Court One, women’s top seed Ivanovic, buoyed by her breakthrough French Open triumph, had to save two match points to see off France’s experienced Nathalie Dechy 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/3), 10-8.
Reigning Australian Open Djokovic, who had reached the third round at least in his last nine Grand Slam appearances and was runner-up to Rafael Nadal at Queen’s two weeks ago, sent down 10 double faults and 28 unforced errors.
”It was a very bad day for me. I didn’t do anything I was supposed to do. I made too many mistakes and had no momentum,” said the 21-year-old Djokovic, a semifinalist here last year.
”Marat’s a great player. He was one of my idols when I was a junior and we used to practise together. I have a lot of respect for him and maybe that played a role today [Wednesday].”
Safin, struggling at 75 in the world, said the win came at the right time for him.
”I’ve been lacking confidence but to beat Djokovic on Centre Court is a great victory,” said Safin, who has endured a miserable 2008, only twice winning back-to-back matches before Wimbledon.
”I had to play really well and concentrate and be with him game by game and just go for it. But he was under pressure. He’s fighting for the number one spot by the end of the year while nothing was expected of me.”
Safin goes on to face Italian 29th seed Andreas Seppi for a place in the last 16.
Djokovic was almost joined on the scrapheap by world number one Ivanovic, who saw off 29-year-old Dechy in a three-and-a-half hour thriller and will now face China’s Zheng Jie for a place in the fourth round.
Zheng boosted her hopes of playing singles at the Beijing Olympics by moving into the third round with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Britain’s Elena Baltacha.
Ivanovic admitted that she was fortunate to escape after a lucky net cord on the second match point in the 10th game of the second set saw the ball flop on to Dechy’s side of the net.
”She played very well. When I saw the ball roll over the net on the second match point, I thought that was my second chance,” said Ivanovic.
”My heart missed a beat when it went on the other side. I was so lucky.”
There were no such dramas for Russian fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who beat Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-3 to reach the third round.
She next faces either Alona Bondarenko or Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic for a place in the last 16.
Australia’s 2002 champion, Lleyton Hewitt, saw off Spain’s Albert Montanes 7-6 (7/4), 6-0, 6-2 and will face either Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez or Italy’s Simone Bolelli.
Another former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero, a quarterfinalist in 2007, was forced to retire through injury after losing the first two sets against Germany’s Mischa Zverev. — AFP
