London - Five-time Wimbledon winner Venus Williams defeated
Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-4 Saturday to reach the fourth
round as the pair met for the second time in 2009 on the Grand Slam
stage.
Third seed Williams, playing at the All England club for the 13th
time, backed up her Australian Open victory of six months ago against
the 20-year-old experiencing the Centre Court for the first time.
Williams was joined in the second week by former French Open
holder Ana Ivanovic, as the 13th seed ended the run of Australian Sam
Stosur 7-5, 6-2.
American Melanie Oudin, ranked 124, produced the shock of the
women's draw when she stunned former number one and sixth seed Jelena
Jankovic 6-7 (8-10), 7-5, 6-2.
Jankovic came to the new Court 3 against the 17-year-old from
Atlanta complaining of illness and was seen by the trainer during
contest which stretched for almost three hours as she became the
highest seed to exit so far.
Qualifier Oudin's victory was her first in two starts as majors,
losing in the first round at the Australian Open and failing to make
the main draw in Paris.
Williams and Ivanovic will next meet for the sixth time in their
careers, with the American standing 5-1, her lone loss coming at the
Melbourne quarter-finals last year.
'I'm very excited, she plays really well here, and last two years
here she's been the champion,' said Serbia's former number one
Ivanovic.
'Two years ago I played her in the semi-final, so I can take a lot
from that match. I'm really happy to take that challenge and to play
against a top player like her,' added the 13th seed.
Ivanovic has been improving after saving a match point in the
first round to survive. She only recently changed coaches, returning
to the her adidas-sponsored mentors including longtime coach Sven
Groeneveld and Darren Cahill.
'It's great to see the results, I just want to go out there and
enjoy it, take it as a challenge. I haven't really played against too
many high-ranked players lately because I wasn't putting myself in a
position.
'But now, I see it as a great challenge.'
In the men's third round, Czech Tomas Berdych swept Russian 12th
seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.
Igor Andreev completed a match left hanging by darkness at 5-5 in
the fourth set, ending with a winning tiebreaker over Italy's Andreas
Seppi 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5).
USA
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