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Wimbledon 2009: Round 4 Recap
by Nadya Vlassoff
Monday was action-packed after the brief respite
Sunday offered the finalists in the men and women’s
singles. Headliners for the day included a variety
of top seeds that faced unexpected competition
from unseeded but no less formidable opponents.
Agniezska Radwanska ended Melanie Oudin’s remarkable
run at Wimbledon in straight sets. Elena Dementieva
made quick work of her Russian compatriot, Elena
Vesnina, in straight sets as Dementieva put on
another strong showing. Dinara Safina rallied
back to win her match against Amelie Mauresmo
in three sets. Mauresmo, a former two-time Slam
champion, came out strong but faded after losing
the decisive break in the second set while Serena
Williams flattened Daniela Hantuchova as Serena
only gave up 4 games in 2 sets. Victoria Azarenka
maintained her focus, pulling out a three set
win over Nadia Petrova who once again succumbed
to a fragile mental game after the unforced errors
began to pile up. Francesca Schiavone made it
into the quarter-finals as the only unseeded woman’s
player after she beat Virginie Razzano in straight
sets.  One
of the most anticipated women’s matches pitted
Venus Williams against Ana Ivanovic. Both Williams
and Ivanovic were on a high prior to the round
of 16 and it looked to be a match worth watching.
Things began well for Ivanovic who pushed Williams
to a break of serve in the opening game but
was unable to convert three break points. After
Ivanovic’s initial burst of power, it was all
Venus Williams who got her tentative serve back
on course but not before breaking Ivanovic.
Ana Ivanovic was unable to defend from the baseline
where Venus is known to generate lots of power.
Although Ivanovic herself is a solid baseline
player, the backcourt belonged to Venus as she
used her overpowering ground game to keep the
overwhelmed Ivanovic from making much of a charge
at all. After the first set went to Venus 6-1,
Ivanovic called for a trainer and her taped
thigh proved to be more of a liability as Ana,
in tears and unable to continue, was forced
to retire from the match. It was a heartbreaking
loss for Ivanovic who has struggled to regain
her winning form since taking the title at the
French Open in 2008 and previously being ranked
#1 on the WTA rankings. For Venus Williams it
was a shorter match than she expected and the
much needed rest will be crucial Venus enters
her quarter-final match on Tuesday.
 The
biggest match of the day was also the longest
as Andy Murray took on the 19th seeded Stanislas
Wawrinka on center court. It was the Swiss Wawrinka
who came out with all cylinders firing as he
blew Murray off the court with several crucial
aces and broke twice in the opening set as the
crowd could not contain their groans at seeing
their current national hero, Andy Murray, looking
frustrated and unable to defend against a strong
Wawrinka. However, like in most tennis matches,
the momentum shifted in Murray’s favor as he
found his game and took the next two sets after
getting Wawrinka to force errors following rallies
and well-placed drop shots that had Wawrinka
scrambling for the net where he hit several
lobs too long in a desperate attempt to return.
Then, in the 4th set, Wawrinka came back to
get the decisive break in the 11th game. The
crowd practically imploded as the center court
roof was closed for the second time that day
so that the match could continue without being
suspended due to darkness. It took Murray 9
more games to claim his win and push his way
into the quarterfinals. It was a match fit for
center court as Wawrinka gave everything he
had but was ultimately outplayed by the wily
Murray.
 King
Roger Federer had little trouble dispatching
Robin Soderling in a match that took only 3
sets and what looked like minimal effort on
Federer’s part as he picked apart Soderling
almost as decisively as Roger did in the final
of the French Open only 2 weeks earlier. Along
with Federer, another familiar name also made
it through to the quarters as Andy Roddick never
faced a break point from Thomas Berdych in a
straight sets match. Tomas Berdych held well
against Roddick in the first set and forced
a tiebreak but hit a costly double-fault that
helped Roddick take the opening set. Roddick
never looked back and is set to take on Leyton
Hewitt in the next round. Tommy Haas, the oldest
player still left in the draw, beat Igor Andreev
to book his spot in the quarters where he’ll
be joined by the towering Ivo Karlovic who got
the redemption he was looking for when he beat
the 7th seeded Fernando Verdasco in the biggest
upset of the day. Novak Djokovic made it look
easy as he took out Dudi Sela in straight sets.
Rounding out the men’s quarterfinals was Juan
Carlos Ferrero who pulled off another upset
when he beat the 8th seeded Gilles Simon in
straight sets.
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