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Pierce, Mauresmo lead the French charge
Amelie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce led a French women' charge into the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Monday, while in the men's section, Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian reached the last eight.
Amelie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce led a French women' charge into the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Monday, while in the men's section, Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian reached the last eight.
Mauresmo, who many see as having her best chance yet to become the first French woman to lift the women's singles title at the All England Club since the fabled Suzanne Lenglen in 1925, cruised past Russia's Elena Likhovtseva 6-4, 6-0. Pierce was in total command against Italy's Flavia Pennetta winning 6-3, 6-1.
But there was disappointment for the other remaining French hope, Nathalie Dechy, who faded after a promising start to lose 6-4, 6-0 to title-holder and second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia.
Mauresmo lost narrowly to Serena Williams in the semis last year, and has been growing in confidence once again this year dropping just 11 games in her first three ties. But she got off to a troubling start against Likhovtseva, a semi-finalist in the French Open earlier this month.
The Russian opened up a 2-0 lead before Mauresmo broke back to level at 2-2. Likhovtseva then rattled off eight points in a row to lead 4-2 as Mauresmo struggled to find her timing and confidence. But the 25-year-old stuck to her task and piece by piece her game came together as she won the next four games in a row to take the set 6-4 sealing it with an easy forehand volley into an empty court.
Mauresmo will play the winner of the all-Russian tie between Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva for a place in the semi-finals.
Pierce equalled her best ever Wimbledon performance by defeating Pennetta having last reached the quarter-finals in 1996. The 30-year-old Frenchwoman has staged a remarkable comeback this year after a depressingly long spell in the wilderness with injuries, weight-gain and loss of confidence. She followed a strict fitness regime and gradually clawed her way back to near her former best culminating in a run into the French Open final in Paris earlier this month.
After initially finding the going tough against the 23-year-old from Brindisi, Pierce later stepped up the pace blasting winners to set up a meeting with the champion in 2000 and 2001 Venus Williams. Venus avenged her younger sister Serena by defeating fellow American Jill Craybas 6-0, 6-2. Craybas had beaten Serena in the previous round.
In the men’s draw, Australian number three seed Lleyton Hewitt advanced to his third Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-3 win over big-serving American Taylor Dent.
The 2002 champion received a warning for verbal abuse in the sixth game of the second set when he twice questioned a line call and then squandered a 5-3 lead in the third set tiebreak.
In the fourth set Hewitt broke Dent's service in the first game, immediately lost his own but then broke again to love. He broke Dent once more to take a 5-3 lead and served out the set to win after three hours one minute on another sweltering day on Centre Court.
Hewitt, seeded third, will next play No. 26 Feliciano Lopez, the first Spaniard to reach the men's quarterfinals since Manuel Orantes in 1972. Lopez beat No. 10 Mario Ancic 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Lopez reached the final eight at a major event for the first time thanks to his dominating left-handed serve. He lost just 15 points on serve and was broken only once, while Ancic served poorly, missing 55 per cent of his first serves.
Ancic's frustration peaked in the second set when he threw a plastic bottle at his chair, then sent his racket bounding across the lawn while changing ends. After a ball boy retrieved the racket, Ancic threw it again, breaking it, and received a code violation from the umpire.
David Nalbandian's dream of a second Wimbledon final moved a step closer to reality as the Argentinian eased past French teenager Richard Gasquet and into the quarter-finals. Nalbandian won 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 6-0, now faces former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, with a possible last four meeting with Andy Roddick on the cards for the victor.
Gasquet, who demonstrated his liking for grass by winning the warm-up tournament at Nottingham, admitted he had run out of steam after a gruelling month. "I've played a lot in the last month, at Queen's, then winning at Nottingham and it has taken a lot out of me," he said. Johansson, seeded 12, saw off Max Mirnyi 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
Later Monday, Roddick faces Argentina's Guillermo Coria while Federer, chasing a third successive Wimbledon title, takes on Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.
