Wednesday, July 1, 2009

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) Centre Court fans applauded Roger Federer's latest win at Wimbledon. And they really roared for the roof.

Five-time champion Federer advanced to the quarterfinals on a day Wimbledon went indoors. Some 90 minutes after Federer was done Monday, rain halted play with Amelie Mauresmo leading top-ranked Dinara Safina, 6-4, 1-4, and officials ordered the new retractable roof closed for the remainder of the match. Safina rallied to win, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Federer hit 23 aces, never lost serve and beat familiar foil Robin Soderling 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5). Federer improved to 11-0 against Soderling, including a victory in the French Open final three weeks ago to complete a career Grand Slam.

This time the No. 2-seeded Federer came through on a handful of key points. He earned the only service break of the match in the ninth game of the opening set, when Soderling committed five unforced errors to fall behind for good, 5-4.

Soderling led in the final tiebreaker but double-faulted on the next-to-last point, then hit an errant return.

"Today was hard to get through a really dangerous match," Federer said. "Not many rallies, so maybe not as much fun for the people. But I stayed calm, waited for my chance."

With all 16 fourth-round matches scheduled, the Williams sisters remained on course to play an all-family final for the second year in a row.

And at 10:39 p.m. Monday, when No. 3-seeded Andy Murray of Britain finally finished off a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 victory over No. 19 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland to reach the quarterfinals at the All England Club, the partisan fans celebrated their guy's victory with quite a roar.

"It was pretty special," said Murray, who dropped to his knees when the match ended, folded his body forward, then stood and swatted a ball straight up so hard it hit the roof.

No man from Britain has won Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, and, like his countrymen, Murray — a 22-year-old from Scotland — is interested in that sort of history, rather than the sort he and Wawrinka made Monday.

Five-time champion Venus led 6-1, 0-1 when Ana Ivanovic retired with a left thigh injury. Two-time champion Serena beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1. Venus beat Serena in last year's final.

American 17-year-old Melanie Oudin's surprising run ended when she lost to No. 11-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4, 7-5.

Andy Roddick hit 24 aces, never faced a break point and defeated No. 20 Tomas Berdych 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-3.

"I'm having so much fun," said Roddick, a two-time runnerup to Federer. "I love playing here. It really is an honor, and that's something that is never lost on me."

Roddick's opponent Wednesday will be 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt, who rallied from a two-set deficit for the sixth time in his career to beat No. 23 Radek Stepanek, 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

No. 4 Novak Djokovic broke seven times and beat Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.

On the hottest day of the tournament, the temperature reached 30 C on Centre Court before the rain arrived. The roof, built to ensure continuous play on the most famous court in tennis, wasn't needed during the first week of the tournament.

When the roof closed, many spectators responded with a standing ovation.

Coincidentally, play resumed on the outer courts at about the same time.

Soderling had only two break-point chances against Federer — both at 4-4 in the third set — and failed to put either return in play. Federer lost just eight points on his first serve and committed only eight unforced errors in the match.

Federer said he has regained the confidence he lacked early this year.

"No signs of panics, what I maybe had, you know, six months ago when I played. I would just feel uneasy. I wouldn't be exactly sure what the right plays were. Now I feel perfect."

He needs three more victories this week for his 15th major title, which would break the record he shares with Pete Sampras. Federer doesn't have to worry about defending champion Rafael Nadal, who missed the tournament with bad knees.

An injury ended Ivanovic's Wimbledon, too. She said she hurt her thigh hitting an ace to erase a break point in the opening game of the second set. "I didn't feel anything up until that point," she said. "When I landed, I just felt a sharp pain on my inner thigh, and I couldn't step on my leg ever since."

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