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LONDON: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal eased into the Wimbledon
quarterfinals on Monday, but it was charismatic Marat Safin and home
hope Andy Murray who fired up All England Club passions.
Five-time champion Federer saw off 2002
champion, and father-to-be Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2, 6-4 and
will take on Mario Ancic, the last man to beat him here, for a place
in the semifinals.
Spanish second seed Nadal, the runner-up for the
last two years, saw off Russian 17th seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-3,
6-1 and will now face Murray who staged a remarkable comeback to
beat France’s Richard Gasquet.
Murray, bidding to be the first British men’s
champion since Fred Perry in 1936, won 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 6-4
after four hours of an enthralling tie which finished in the gloom
on Centre Court.
Safin, a former world No. 1 whose career was
seemingly in terminal freefall, reached his first Wimbledon
quarterfinal since 2001 with a 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 win over Swiss
13th seed Stanislas Wawrinka.
The Russian, a former Australian and US Open
champion, now takes on Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.
Unseeded Ancic, whose career has been blighted
by illness and injury, came back from two sets down to beat Spanish
22nd seed Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11.
The Croatian shot to fame here in 2002 when he
defeated Federer in the first round in what was Federer’s last
defeat on a grass court.
The world No. 1, bidding to become the first man
to win six titles in a row, racked up his 63rd successive win on
grass by dismissing Hewitt, the last man to win the title in 2002
before the top seed created his private monopoly.
“I underestimated Mario that day,” recalled
Federer who has since defeated Ancic five times out of five,
including a straight-set win in the quarterfinals here in 2006.
Nadal, the four-time French Open winner, cruised
through to his third successive quarterfinal here, but needed eight
minutes of treatment on his right knee after falling awkwardly in
the second game of the Court One match.
“I felt something behind the knee. I was
scared at the start but it got better later,” said the Spaniard.
Safin hadn’t reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal
since 2005 when he went on to take the Australian Open.
“It was still black and white television the
last time I made the last eight here,” joked the 28-year-old who
put out third seed Novak Djokovic in the second round.
Lopez, the 31st seed, reached his second
Wimbledon quarterfinal with a grueling 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 8-6
win over 2006 semifinalist Marcos Baghdatis, the Cypriot 10th seed.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Rainer Schuettler and
Arnaud Clement struck a blow for the 30-somethings by reaching the
last eight and will meet for a semi-final spot.
Schuettler, 32, reached his first Wimbledon
quarterfinal with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) over Serbia’s Janko
Tipsarevic.
Clement, 30, the world No. 145, also made it
through to a first quarterfinal with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 over Croatian
19-year-old Marin Cilic.
“I had to come back because I was always
trying to work hard, trying to stay fit,” said Schuettler, the
2003 Australian Open runner-up whose recent career has been
curtailed by a knee injury and glandular fever.
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