Andy Murray will fly the flag for Britain but the second week of Wimbledon will get underway here on Monday with the unheralded Shenay Perry as the only American survivor in the men's or women's singles.
With Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport both missing through injury, Andy Roddick, Venus Williams and Andre Agassi all failed to make it beyond the half-way stage of a tournament in which American success is almost as traditional as the strawberries and cream.
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 Scots teenager 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 No 2'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.
Murray's reward for 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 semi-finalist here, in four sets.
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 in 1987, could become a Wimbledon king far sooner than anyone had expected.
Nadal's path to the quarter-finals 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.
SATURDAY'S COLLATED RESULTS (X DENOTES SEEDED PLAYER):
MEN'S THIRD ROUND: Irakli Labadze (GEO) bt Mardy Fish (USA) 6-2 - retd Rafael Nadal (ESP x2) bt Andre Agassi (USA x25) 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-4; Lleyton Hewitt (AUS x6) bt Olivier Rochus (BEL x26) 6-1, 6-4, 6-4; Mario Ancic (CRO x7) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-3; Jarkko Nieminen (FIN x22) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4); Dmitry Tursunov (RUS x27) bt Ivan Ljubicic (CRO x5) 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2; David Ferrer (ESP (x23) bt Fernando Gonzalez (CHI x10) 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; Andy Murray (GBR) bt Andy Roddick (USA x3) 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-4; Marcos Baghdatis (CYP x18) bt Sebastien Grosjean (FRA x15) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.
WOMEN'S THIRD ROUND: Anastasia Myskina (RUS x9) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP x23) 6-3, 6-4; Elena Dementieva (RUS x7) bt Elena Likhovtseva (RUS x25) 7-5, 6-3; Ana Ivanovic (SCG x19) bt Dinara Safina (RUS x14) 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1; Flavia Pennetta (ITA x16) bt Peng Shuai (CHN) 6-2, 6-3; Shenay Perry (USA) bt Sybille Bammer (AUT) 7-5, 6-3 Maria Sharapova (RUS x4); bt Amy Frazier (USA) 6-3, 6-2; Amelie Mauresmo (FRA x1) bt Nicole Pratt (AUS) 6-1, 6-2; Jelena Jankovic (SCG x26) bt Venus Williams (USA x6) 7-6 (10/8), 4-6, 6-4.
Comments
Comments are closed.