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Tennis > Serena upset after being shunted
By Steve Griffiths
June 25, 2010
Serena Williams took a swipe at Wimbledon officials after the defending women's champion was asked to play her second round match against Russia's Anna Chakvetadze away from the show courts.
By Steve Griffiths
June 25, 2010
Serena Williams took a swipe at Wimbledon officials after the defending women's champion was asked to play her second round match against Russia's Anna Chakvetadze away from the show courts.
Williams was forced to play on Court Two at the All England Club as tournament organisers decided to give women's third seed Caroline Wozniacki a Centre Court appearance.
Three-time Wimbledon champion Serena did not hang around for long in the less glamorous surroundings and took just 49 minutes to crush Chakvetadze and set up a third round meeting with Dominika Cibulkova.
"I thought, 'Why wasn't I on Centre or at least on Court One?'. I had mixed emotions about that," Serena said.
"I don't think I should be out there. The only way to console me was the fact I saw so many kids and gave some things away."
While Serena was unhappy to be out of the limelight, Andy Murray put on a show for Queen Elizabeth II as the British fourth seed crushed Jarkko Nieminen, while America's John Isner finally won the longest match in tennis history.
After an epic 11 hours and five minutes, John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut by an incredible 70-68 in the final set.
American Isner dropped his racquet and fell to the ground in delight before embracing his opponent at the net when the marathon match ended at last - two days after it had begun.
A host of tennis records were shattered in an extraordinary contest which finally ended at 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68, a match unlikely ever to be surpassed.
Murray had the task of entertaining the Queen on her first visit to the All England Club since 1977 and the Scot rose to the challenge with a 6-3 6-4 6-2 second round victory that earned a clash with French 23rd seed Gilles Simon.
Joining Murray in the third round was world number one Rafael Nadal, who survived a gruelling examination against Holland's Robin Haase, ranked 104th, to win 5-7 6-2 3-6 6-0 6-3.
Nadal dropped sets at a Grand Slam for the first time in nine matches, but the French Open champion battled back from the brink to earn a meeting with Phillip Petzschner or Lukasz Kubot.
Swedish sixth seed Robin Soderling moved easily past Marcel Granollers, 7-5 6-1 6-4 while Spain's ninth seed David Ferrer defeated Florent Serra, 6-4 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-3.
Murray will next face Frenchman Gilles Simon, who advanced in a walkover against injured opponent Illya Marchenko.
Two compatriots joined Simon in the third round as Julien Benneteau beat Andreas Beck, 3-6 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-3, and Jeremy Chardy defeated Lukas Lacko, 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-7 (5-7) 8-6.
Tenth-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also went through over Alexandr Dolgopolov, 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 5-7 10-8.
In women's play, seeds advanced with ease, led by No.3 Caroline Wozniacki, who defeated Kai-Chen Chang 6-4 6-3.
Polish No.7 Agnieszka Radwanska beat Alberta Brianti, 6-2 6-0, while China's number nine Li Na beat Kurumi Nara of Japan, 6-2 6-4.
And 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, seeded 16th, hammered Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania, 6-1 6-4.