Leaders rule on court!

After all the shocks and spills of the opening week, top seed Serena Williams remained impregnable as she unleashed her full arsenal to move almost effortlessly into the last 16 at Wimbledon on Saturday.
A crushing 6-2 6-0 win over Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm offered a reminder that while her closest rivals in the women’s game are often vulnerable to upsets, she is an immovable object at the top of the tree. With main rivals Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka departing in the second round, Williams spoke optimistically of a new generation coming through.  The fact the she was playing a 42-year-old, perhaps told a different story.

‘I feel like this might be the beginning of maybe the future, she said. Eventually there’s going to have to be a shift of players.’ The fans may disagree. The two men’s matches on Court One on Saturday produced more than six hours of entertainment, while Williams’s brief appearance lasted 61 minutes.
Williams, chasing a sixth Wimbledon title and 17th Grand Slam overall, will face Germany’s 23rd seed Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round.

‘I feel like she’s serving massive, she said. I feel like she plays some of her best tennis on grass. She always pulls an upset. It will be a really tough match for me. I have to get serious to play it.’
Novak Djokovic took the express route into the Wimbledon fourth round as the world number one thrashed French 28th seed Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday. Djokovic, who plays German 13th seed Tommy Haas for a place in the quarterfinals, has now won 50 times on grass, but few of the preceding 49 victories can have been as emphatic as this.

‘I felt very confident going onto the court and everything went my way. I did everything I wanted to do, Djokovic said.  I enjoy it very much when everything works well. It’s a fantastic feeling.  I have returned this well a few times but not often on the grass against a big server like Chardy.  I managed to find the right balance and I felt really good on the court.’

The Serb played a flawless first two sets without a single unforced error, and eventually hit 38 winners and served eight aces in one hour and 26 minutes of total dominance on Centre Court.
Fourth seed David Ferrer came through a punishing five-set test against Alexandr Dolgopolov to move into the last 16 in the evening gloom at Wimbledon on Saturday. Ferrer eventually ground down the 26th seeded Ukrainian 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 in three hours 12 minutes. ‘It was a very hard match, this year’s French Open finalist Ferrer said. I tried to fight a lot and to be focused in the right moments and eventually I won.’

There were only been 12 five-set matches in the first two rounds of the men’s singles at Wimbledon, which was the fewest at the grasscourt grand slam in the Open era. Ferrer came into its own as he got on top in the fourth set and ended the resistance of Dolgopolov to set up a fourth round match against Ivan Dodig.