Serbians strike!

Thursday again saw heavy rain cut sohrt play at Wimbledon, however the mens 4th round and ladies quarter finals where finally completed.

Anna Ivanovic came back from a set and a break down to beat world number 10 Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 4-6 6-2 7-5. The Serbian could not compete with the excelelnt play from her younger opponent in the first set and when the Czech went up a break in the 2nd set the match looked all over. However the Serbian broke serve 3 times in the second set to level up. At 5-3 and 15-40 on Ivanovic's serve in the 3rd set again it looked like Vaidisova had the match won, only to lose the next 4 games in succession to hand the Serb her first Wimbledon semi-final.

Ivanovic will play Venus Williams in the semi as the Americans power was too strong for Russian number 5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Williams won easily in straight sets in difficult conditions on centre court as the wind caused havoc. Everyone is predicting a Williams v Henin final however both Ivanovic and Bartoli will be no pushovers and may cause a suprise, especially under no pressure.

In the mens 4th round Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Lleyton Hewitt in 4 tight sets. The Aussie was leading 5-4 and serving for the 4th set when his opponent fought back to force a tie-break which he won 7-5. Djokovic goes on to play Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the quarters after the number 10 seed defeated 6th seeded Nickolay Davydenko in straight sets 7-6 7-6 6-3.
Roger Federer back after having 6 days off is 5-5 40-40 with Juan Carlos Fererro of Spain when rain stopped play. Federer had been 5-2 up in the match but looked a bit rusty from his lack of recent play.

Good news for the brits as both teams left in the mixed doubles draw won their matches today. Jamie Murray partnering Serbian Jankovic won in 3 sets while the all british pairing of Alex Bogdanovic and Melanie South defeated 13th seeds Wassen and Yang, a day after they had produced an excellent match in defeating top seeded Lisa Raymond and Bob Bryan of the USA. Murray/Jankovic go into the 3rd round while Bogdanovic/South are through to the quarters.