Li shown the door as Lisicki advances

German wildcard stuns French Open champion

The third-seeded Chinese squandered two match points in the third set to give Lisicki a chance which she grabbed with both hands when she got a break back in the next game.

The German world number 62 then clawed her way in front and sealed an emotional victory on her third match point when Li sent a forehand wide.  Lisicki burst into tears as she dropped to her knees in celebration after booking a clash with Misaki Doi of Japan, the world number 133, in the third round.

Earlier in the day, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic took his latest winning streak to two matches with an emphatic win over South African Kevin Anderson as Serena Williams also progressed.

The world number two may struggle to match the 41 consecutive victories with which he began the year before losing in the French Open semifinal but his form so far suggests no hangover from his Paris loss to Roger Federer.

After scorching into a 5-0 lead after 15 minutes he routinely dispatched the towering Anderson 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.  Defending women’s champion Serena Williams dispensed with the tears as she reached the third round with an ultimately easy victory over Romanian teenager Simona Halep.

The 29-year-old, who wept after beating Aravane Rezai on Tuesday as the emotional turmoil of a horrendous 11 months caught up with her, eventually found her A-game in a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory on Court Two.

Several other seeds prospered as the fourth day began under bright sunshine with just a few scattered showers to worry the organisers, who have battled fickle weather so far.
Sixth seed Francesca Schiavone, one of seven Grand Slam champions in the draw, beat Barbora Zahlavova 7-5, 6-3 on her 31st birthday and she was joined in the last 32 by another former French Open champion, Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic who breezed past Greek wildcard Eleni Daniilidou 6-3, 6-0.

Russian 12th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who despite her powerful game and titles at the US Open and French Open has never shone at Wimbledon, crushed Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru.

In another late match, for two sets Robin Soderling gave Lleyton Hewitt a gilt-edged opportunity to spring a major Wimbledon upset without even having to call on his copious reserves of heart and guts.

But the Swede remembered he was the world’s fifth-best player in the nick of time, denying the Australian former champion a third-round place with a 6-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 victory in nearly four hours under the Centre Court roof.

Sania-Vesnina win

The Indo-Russian pair of Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina advanced to the second round of women’s doubles event at the Wimbledon while Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi were shown the door in the opening round itself.

The fourth-seeded pair of Sania and Elena disposed off a spirited challenge in the second set from unseeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia and Melanie Oudin of the US to win 6-0, 7-6 (7-4).

They now meet Czech Renata Voracova and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhastan, who beat England’s Naomi Broady and Emily Webley-Smith 6-3, 6-4. Meanwhile, it was shocker for Indo-Pak Express Bopanna and Qureshi who went down to unseeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-2, 2-6, 19-21 in a marathon three-setter which was curtailed due to rain delay.

Wimbledon results (prefix denotes seeding):
Men’s singles, second round: 32-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Andreas Seppi (Ita) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5; 5-Robin Soderling (Swe) bt Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 6-7 (5-7), 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4; 19-Michael Llodra (Fra) bt Ricardo Mello (Bra) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; 28-David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Andreas Haider-Maurer (Aut) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; 24-Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) bt Olivier Rochus (Bel) 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-0, 6-4; Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Rik De Voest (SA) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Lu Yen-hsun (Tai) bt 13-Viktor Troicki (Srb) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4; Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt 20-Florian Mayer (Ger) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2; Karol Beck (Slo) bt 26-Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; 2-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Kevin Anderson (SA) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Women’s singles, second round: Sabine Lisicki (Ger) bt 3-Li Na (Chn) 3-6, 6-4, 8-6; 21-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Evgeniya Rodina (Rus) 6-4, 6-2; 27-Jarmila Gajdosova (Aus) bt Andrea Hlavackova (Cze) 7-6 (7-1), 6-3; Petra Cetkovska (Cze) bt 13-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; 26-Maria Kirilenko (Rus) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 7-5, 7-5; Misaki Doi (Jpn) bt Zheng Jie (Chn) 6-3, 6-1; Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Sara Errani (Ita) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; 7-Serena Williams (US) bt Simona Halep (Rom) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
16-Julia Goerges (Ger) bt Mathilde Johansson (Fra) 7-6 (12-10), 6-2; 6-Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) 7-5, 6-3; 19-Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) bt Anna Tatishvili (Geo) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt 14-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 6-3, 6-3; Tamira Paszek (Aus) bt Christina McHale (US) 6-4, 6-1; 24-Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Polona Hercog (Slo) 6-1, 6-2; 12-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Alexandra Dulgheru (Rom) 6-0, 6-2; 18-Ana Ivanovic (Srb) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) 6-3, 6-0.