American tennis legend Andre Agassi had his final Wimbledon
dream smashed and bade farewell to the All England lawn tennis
championships on Saturday after losing to a ruthless Rafael Nadal
in the third round.
Agassi, 36, was joined by two other Americans, women's champion
Venus Williams and men's third seed Andy Roddick who also suffered
exit in Wimbledon.
Williams lost in three sets to Serbian Jelena Jankovic and
Roddick, the runner-up in 2004 and 2005, and Roddic was beaten in
three sets by unseeded British teenager Andy Murray in the two
biggest shocks of the tournament so far.
Double French Open champion Nadal made no allowance for
sentiment in a 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory on the Center Court where
Agassi won the first of his eight grand slam titles 14 years
ago.
The Las Vegan retires from tennis after the U.S. Open and he
said, "To say goodbye, for me, this means as much as winning.
Jankovic, the 26th seed, reached the fourth round of a grand
slam for the first time with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 victory over
three-times champion Williams on court two.
Murray, the 19-year-old who is shouldering British hopes of a
first men's champion in 70 years, outplayed Roddick in a 7-6,
6-4,6-4 victory on Center Court.
Roddick's defeat meant there are no Americans left in the fourth
round of the men's singles for only the second time in the
professional era.
On a scorching day in southwest London men's fifth seed Ivan
Ljubicic and number 10 Fernando Gonzalez both suffered five-set
defeats.
Russian Dmitry Tursunov recovered to win from two sets down for
the first time in his career when he upset Ljubicic 5-7, 4-6,
6-1,7-6, 6-2. Tursunov, who reached the fourth round last year,
also saved a match point in the fourth set tiebreak.
Seventh seed Mario Ancic kept Croatian interest alive when he
completed a four-set win over Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in a
match that started on Center Court on Friday and finished on court
one on Saturday.
Spain's David Ferrer reached his first Wimbledon fourth round
when he too fought back from two sets down to beat Gonzalez 4-6,
2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.
Ferrer next faces Australian sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002
champion who swept through with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Belgian
Olivier Rochus.
Women's top seed Amelie Mauresmo and Russia's Maria Sharapova,
the 2004 champion, are yet to drop a set after easy wins on
Saturday.
France's Mauresmo demolished 33-year-old Australian Nicole Pratt
6-1, 6-2 and Sharapova was an assured 6-3, 6-2 winner over American
Amy Frazier.
Her compatriot, seventh seed Elena Dementieva, equalled her best
Wimbledon performance by reaching round four with a 7-5, 6-3 win
over fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva.
Chinese player Peng Shuai lost to 16th seed Flavia Pennetta of
Italy 6-2, 6-3.
(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2006)