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Roddick braced for Dent, fans for rain

Crash helmets will be the order of the day at Wimbledon on Saturday when two of the world's biggest servers Andy Roddick and Taylor Dent clash head-on in the third round.

Published on: Jun 26, 2004, 11:51:00 IST
PTI | By , London
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Crash helmets will be the order of the day at Wimbledon on Saturday when two of the world's biggest servers Andy Roddick and Taylor Dent clash head-on in the third round of the grasscourt grand slam.

HT Image
HT Image

Second seed Roddick, holder of the world's fastest delivery at 153 miles (246.2 km) per hour, knows he will have a taste of his own medicine when he steps on to court one against his fellow American.

"It's a good serve ... it's a heavy serve," the U.S. Open champion said. "You know, he's not going to locate it like someone like a Todd Martin, but he hits it heavy enough where, you know, you can really feel it coming off your racket.

"You know, it's heavy on your racket. You really have to make solid contact to be able to do something with it."

The pair are scheduled for second match on court one -- after Jennifer Capriati's match with Nathalie Dechy -- but there is a very real danger they will spend a lot of time in the locker room as rain threatens to disrupt play once more.

Wet weather washed out all play on Wednesday and the Meteorological Office said on Friday that rain was expected over the All England Club early in the afternoon and it is not expected to clear away until the early evening.

TROPHY CABINET

Top seed Roger Federer will be hoping to get on and off court in time to advance when he tackles Sweden's Thomas Johansson.

The Swiss is in tremendous form and is scheduled first match on Centre Court at 12pm local time (1100 GMT).

Federer is due to be followed on court by Serena Williams against Magui Serna.

Following the exit of elder sister Venus on Thursday, Serena must retain her title here to ensure the Williams family is not left without a grand slam in the family trophy cabinet for the first time since 1998.

Britain's Tim Henman is also set to play on Centre Court for a second successive day. The fifth seed, bidding to become the first British man to win the singles here in 68 years, faces highly-talented but volatile Moroccan Hicham Arazi.

French fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo is also slated to play. She meets Slovak Ludmila Cervanova on court one while over on court two last year's men's runner-up Mark Philippoussis plays Chile's Fernando Gonzalez.

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