Wimbledon day 6: Another five-setter stretches aching Nadal

The world No.1s both made it through their third round ties, but while Serena Williams cruised and has dropped service only once in the tournament, Rafael Nadal was made to go the distance for the second match in a row.

27 June 2010, 12:00am

4 min read

Nadal, the 2008 champion, extended his consecutive win streak here at Wimbledon to 11 but he once again suffered, at the hands of his opponent and his aching joints. Three times he was attended to by the ATP physio in his 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(5-7), 6-2, 6-3 win over No.33 seed Philipp Petzschner, once for his left elbow and twice briefly for his right knee during change-overs.

The match also saw him issued a warning for allegedly receiving instructions from his coach. In the end, he did what he did against Robin Haase in the second round and stepped up his play at the crucial moment.

Winning tough matches is often a necessary step en route to a championship, but having to push through the pain barrier for four hours will not be what the doctor order for the Majorcan. He now has just under 48 hours to prepare himself for his clash with Paul-Henri Mathieu, and while the French journeyman, who defeated "Isner slayer" Thiemo de Bakker in four sets (three of them tie-breaks), should not provide too stern a test, a certain Robin Soderling may well be lying in wait in the quarter-finals.

The Swede famously knocked an ailing Nadal off his perch at Roland Garros in 2009, putting an end to his 31-match winning run on the Paris clay, and the No.6 seed is looking in sparkling form at Wimbledon this year. On Saturday he dispatched No.25 seed Thomaz Bellucci in a mere 11 games over the minimum, winning an incredible 90% of points on his first service and feasting on the Brazilian's second offering to carve out seven break points and take four. He is yet to drop a set here at The Championships and is one of the form players in the men's draw.

The other is Andy Murray, who made short work of No.26 seed Gilles Simon who looked exactly what he is - a very good player painfully short of match practice and confidence. The Scotsman showed no mercy, and by the time Simon had located his radar on service, he found himself a set and a break down. The third set was more of a battle - particularly with the roof set to close and a curfew of 10.30 pm imposed - but Murray closed it out for a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win. The No.4 seed will now play Sam Querrey, who was taken the distance by Xavier Malisse.

While Simon was packing his bags, there was better news for other Frenchman, with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Julien Benneteau setting up a fourth-round clash with their respective wins and ensuring that there will be a representative from across the Channel in the quarter-finals.

The stand-out country in the women's draw on Saturday was the Czech Republic. After the demise of their top-ranked competitors Lucie Safarova and Iveta Bensova, it was left to the lesser lights to shine, and shine they certainly did in the third round. Petra Kvitova rode out the storm against Belarusian No.14 seed Victoria Azarenka and won the last nine games to record a 7-5, 6-3 win. The hard-hitting lefty was joined in the last 16 by compatriot Klara Zakopalova, who made light work of an out-of-sorts No.10 seed Flavia Pennetta (6-2, 6-3).

A third Czech representative almost followed them into the fourth round, but Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, a name as extravagant as her flamboyant on-court behaviour, could not find enough in the tank to defeat a determined Maria Sharapova, who despite suffering repeated breaks of service always had sufficient grass-court nous to outwit her less experienced opponent. The Siberian won 7-5, 6-3 to set up a marquee Monday match-up with Serena Williams.

The world No.1 was in ominous form, thrashing Dominika Cibulkova 6-0, 7-5 and though the defending champion was her own harshest critic after a less than stellar second set where she dropped service for the first time this week, she is certainly the person to beat in the women's draw on current form.

She was not the only No.1 seed to win convincingly on Saturday - Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, who was top seeded for the qualifying competition which began two weeks ago, added the scalp of No.31 seed Alexandra Dulgheru to No.6 seed Sam Stosur as she quietly but ruthlessly makes her way through the main draw. She will face Zakopalova on Monday, while Kvitova will take on No.3 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who was below her best but was still too strong for Russian No.29 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (7-5, 6-4).