Rafa Nadal tamed his fury after a rare warning for coaching on Saturday to come through another five-set test at Wimbledon while Andy Murray made more clinical progress towards their possible semi-final showdown.
As the world number one was grinding away over five sets for the second time in three days, Serena Williams was looking forward to a last-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 in a gripping third-round clash.
Nadal levelled 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 clash on Centre Court, and later pledged to discuss the ruling with the tournament supervisor.
But the 2008 champion, who needed several visits from the trainer for a niggling pain in his right knee, kept his focus and ousted the German 6-4, 4-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 after three hours and 45 minutes of gripping counter-punching.
“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 Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu for a place in the quarterfinals on Monday.
Asked afterwards if it was fair to be warned, Nadal said: “Sometimes yes. Not today in my opinion. But yes, sometimes in the past, Toni maybe talks too much.”
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 sizzles
Soderling, a potential quarterfinal opponent for Nadal and aiming to be Sweden’s first finalist since Stefan Edberg in 1990, battered 15 aces in a bulldozing two-hour performance against Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, winning 6-4, 6-2, 7-5.
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 to beat Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Briton Murray delighted the Centre Court crowd as the sun set over south west London with a measured dismantling of former top 10 player Gilles Simon.
The 23-year-old Scot, who seems little affected by annually carrying a nation’s hopes of ending a men’s singles drought dating back to Fred Perry’s 1936 triumph, gave Simon a lesson in relentless hitting from the back of the court.
He has not lost a set yet, seems utterly unfazed by the burden of expectation and next faces big-hitting Sam Querrey, the American winner of the Queen’s Club grasscourt tune-up tournament, for a place in the quarters.
“I wasn’t rushing but you want to get it done,” Murray said after fading light had threatened the closure of the Centre Court roof.
Chardy and Simon’s defeats made for a contrasting day for France with 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga leading the charge alongside Mathieu and Julien Benneteau who also won on Saturday.
Until 1922 the reigning singles champions at the All England Club were granted byes to the final the following year and at times against Dominika Cibulkova on Saturday it seemed a policy worth reviving given Serena Williams’ complete dominance and lack of competitive challenge.
The 28-year-old three-time champion bludgeoned her way through the opening set in just 18 minutes, but the Slovak finally struck some kind of form to at least spare any further blushes before going down 6-0, 7-5.
Serena showdown
The 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 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Organisers slapped a $15Â 000 fine for unsportsmanlike behaviour 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. – Reuters