Rain, Rain Go Away

Wimbledon Review

Day five at the 2005 Wimbledon Championships finally saw the heavens open up, but before the rain engulfed the All England Club complex there was still plenty of time for some stunning upsets and a couple of very near misses for the top ranked players.

After years of mediocrity on the grass talented Russian Marat Safin was finally being touted as a title chance after showing some fine form over the past few weeks, but young Spaniard Feliciano Lopez played the match of his life to continue the no.5 seeds Wimbledon hoodoo defeating him convincingly in straight sets 6-4 7-6(4) 6-3.

Safin was extremely disappointed after the match, but had nothing but glowing words for his conqueror in his post match press conference.

“He played really well. He had nothing to lose basically. He had no pressure whatsoever. He was playing his game. He was serving well. He took his chances. He played pretty solid game. He's really confident right now.”

The other upset of the day saw the big serving no.11 seeded Swede Joachim Johansson exit the tournament at the hands of Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-4 6-4 6-2.

American no.2 seed Andy Roddick escaped what would have been an embarrassing second round loss scraping home against Italian qualifier Daniele Bracciali in a tough five setter that spanned two days 7-5 6-3 6-7(3) 4-6 6-3.

Even though the victory was against inferior opposition Roddick was very happy to win a tough match after having his problems in the past with five setters.

“I wanted to prove something out there today, for sure. There was definitely a chip on my shoulder. It's not totally turned around. But the more matches I win that are tough, in tougher circumstances, the more you remember what it's like to do that. You know, I think it was big to get through. It would have been a devastating loss.”

Lleyton Hewitt continued to fly the Aussie flag facing some stiff opposition from American qualifier Justin Gimelstob in his third round match before moving through 7-6(5) 6-4 7-5.

Hewitt’s opponent in the fourth round will be American Taylor Dent after he cruised past Czech Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-6(5) 6-3 and the fist pumping Australian said after his match that he knows that he could be in for a long afternoon come Monday.

“I've had a lot of tough matches with Taylor in the past. He's a tough competitor. He's not going to give me too many cheap points out there. He's obviously got a great serve﷓and﷓volley game. He's going to keep coming at me all day. A few years ago we played a tight five﷓setter here, which, you know, was a pretty memorable match. I'm going to have to work just as hard as I did that day if I'm going to get over the line.”

The only other match completed on day five saw last year’s semi finalist Croatian Mario Ancic defeat 2004 Wimbledon junior champion Gael Monfils 6-3 6-3 6-1.

The women’s draw provided the match of the tournament thus far with Russian no.9 seed Anastasia Myskina winning a three set thriller against no.17 seed Jelena Jankovic 6-0 5-7 10-8.

Myskina served for the match in the second set at 5-3, but Jankovic staved off a couple of match points before taking the set 7-5.

The young Serb then raced to a seemingly match winning 5-1 lead in the decider, but Myskina produced a stunning comeback of her own to eventually take the marathon match after two hours and 43 minutes.

Svetlana Kuznetsova was another Russian to struggle through to the fourth round defeating Czech no.27 seed Nicole Vaidisova 7-5 6-7(5) 6-2.

Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo was by far the most impressive woman in action on the fifth day dismantling American Shenay Perry 6-0 6-2.

Day Five Results

Men Third Round:

2-Andy Roddick (USA) bt Daniele Bracciali (Italy) 7-5 6-3 6-7(3) 4-6 6-3
3-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) bt Justin Gimelstob (USA) 7-6(5) 6-4 7-5
26-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt 5-Marat Safin (Russia) 6-4 7-6(4) 6-3
10-Mario Ancic (Croatia) bt Gael Monfils (France) 6-3 6-3 6-1
21-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt 11-Joachim Johansson (Sweden) 6-4 6-4 6-2
24-Taylor Dent (USA) bt Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 6-3 7-6(5) 6-3
30-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) leads Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 7-5 6-3 3-6 4-4

Women Third Round:

3-Amelie Mauresmo (France) bt Shenay Perry (USA) 6-0 6-2
5-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt 27-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) 7-5 6-7(5) 6-2
6-Elena Dementieva (Russia) bt Mashona Washington (USA) 7-5 6-1
9-Anastasia Myskina (Russia) bt 17-Jelena Jankovic (SCG) 6-0 5-7 10-8
13-Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) bt 22-Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) 5-7 6-4 6-4
Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria) bt Antonella Serra Zanetti (Italy) 6-3 6-2

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