Wimbledon, Day 4: Rafael Nadal Wins In Five; Serena, Murray, Soderling Cruise

Wimbledon: Five Things We Learned On Day 4

1) It had to end eventually.  The match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut ended finally, with Isner finally breaking Mahut in the 138th game of the fifth set to win it 70-68 as the match was in its twelfth hour.  The match was an extremely impressive showing of mental fortitude and serving, even if some of the returning from Isner was mind-numbingly brainless at times.  The match was an unscriptable, once-in-a-lifetime sort of happening, and I am very glad that I was able to watch (and cover) it, no matter how insanity-inducing it was.  I'm not entirely sure I agree with having an award ceremony and choreographed photo session right at the end of a first round match, but that's a topic for a different time.

Especially if he gets onto a big court as he well might, I actually like Isner's chances in the second round against Thiemo de Bakker.  He'll have all the crowd support imagineable, and should be able to serve his way through whatever fatigue he's feeling.  Hell, even Mahut went out to play doubles later today (in a match that was cruelly placed on the same Court 18 where he'd battled Isner for the last three days).   I'm not entirely sure I agree with having an award ceremony and choreographed photo session right at the end, but that's a topic for a different time.

2) Philipp Petzschner is suddenly capable of winning in five sets. Philipp Petzschner was one match away from completing one of the most embarrassing accomplishing feats in sports--blowing a two-sets-to-none lead in all four grand slams consecutively. Petzschner has already registered consecutive chokes at the US Open, Australian Open and Roland Garros. He looked close to completing the quartet of agony in the first round of Wimbledon, as he needed a fifth set against unheralded Stephane Robert despite winning the first two. But he won that match in the fifth set, 6-4. Today against Lukasz Kubot in the second round, Philipp Petzschner found himself in the unusual role of comeback kid, climbing out of a two-sets-to-one hole to take the match in five. The bad news for Petzschner, of course, is that he could still very well blow a two-set lead in the next round. Except that he's playing Rafael Nadal, who doesn't seem especially likely to go down 0-2 to a player like Petzschner any time soon. finally closed out a win in 5

3) Clay courters are learning to chew through grass. David Ferrer, Fabio Fognini and Thomaz Bellucci joined Gael Monfils and Albert Montanes as a shockingly large battalion of clay courters in the third round of Wimbledon. I haven't seen enough of their matches to know if they're playing actual grass court tennis or if their wins are a factor of slower conditions, but either way these are surprising names to be encountering this late into the Wimbledon draw. No. 7 Nikolay Davydenko, however, remains a largely hopeless cause on the lawns.

4) Agnieszka Radwanska is quietly an incredibly solid grass courter. No. 7 Agnieszka Radwanska is about as anonymous as any reasonably attractive longtime Top Ten WTAer could be. Her lack of name recognition and unflashy style of play keeps her largely relegated from the biggest courts, and she hasn't won all that many huge titles. But her consistency, especially at Wimbledon over the years, is extremely commendable. Radwanska just about always beats the players she's supposed to beat, which is much more than can be said for most on the WTA.  Her first two matches at Wimbledon, a 6-3, 6-3 win over Melinda Czink and a 6-2, 6-0 trouncing of Alberta Brianti, are perfect examples of this.

5) The second quarter of the Ladies' Singles draw is wide open. Caroline Wozniacki's quarter of the top half is about as unprestigious as you can get. The eight players remaining (Wozniacki, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, Flavia Pennetta, Klara Zakopalova, Alexandra Dulgheru, Kaia Kanepi)have a combined career total of one grand slam semifinal appearance. That one was by Wozniacki in the 2009 US Open, where she waltzed through one of the easiest draws any finalist has had in grand slam history thanks to the havoc wrought by Melanie Oudin. Especially when compared to the potential fourth round matches lining up in other sections of the tournament (Serena-Sharapova and Clijsters-Henin), every player in this section should consider herself extremely lucky.

Wimbledon: No. 1 Serena Williams Dominant Again, Beats Anna Chakvetadze 6-0, 6-1

No. 1 seed Serena Williams turned in her second rout of the tournament in Day 4, utterly dominating former top five player Anna Chakvetadze 6-0, 6-1.

Serena may have been angry about the scheduling committee relegating her to Court 2 on a day when The Queen visited Centre Court, and if so she certainly took those frustrations out on Chakvetadze. Serena won the first eleven games of the match before one finally went in the Chakvetadze column.

Chakvetadze didn’t play poorly in the slightest, showing many flashes of the craftiness that got her into the sport’s upper echelon. She even had four break point opportunities against the dominant Williams serve, but wasn’t able to convert a single one.

Wimbledon: No. 19 Svetlana Kuznetsova Upset By Anastasia Rodionova, Refuses Hand Shake

In a result I predicted at the beginning of the day, unseeded Anastasia Rodionova upset No. 19 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

After match point, Kuznetsova refused to shake Rodionova’s hand, which in this case is far more of a reflection on Rodionova than it is on Kuznetsova.

Rodionova is, after all, one of only two players in WTA history to be defaulted from a match for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Rodionova, a Russian-born Australian, also famously celebrated as her opponent, Sabine Lisicki, writhed on the ground in pain at the 2009 US Open.

She’s a keeper, this one.

Wimbledon: No. 2 Rafael Nadal Survives Robin Haase In Five Sets

Rafael Nadal got a break midway through the fifth set and held onto it, defeating Robin Haase 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Nadal never seemed discouraged, and actually seemed to be relishing the second round challenge.

For a five set match, this was awfully quick. Only two hours and 25 minutes. Thats less than a quarter of the time the Isner-Mahut match lasted. I really have to learn not to ever compare anything to Isner-Mahut, but this was still quick by most any measure.

Nadal next faces the winner of the ongoing Philipp Petzschner-Lukasz Kubot battle.

Wimbledon: No. 2 Rafael Nadal Bagels Robin Haase In Fourth Set--Going Five

No. 2 Rafael Nadal responded to being one set from elimination against Robin Haase in the best way possible—he won the fourth set without dropping a game.

The beginning of the fifth set will be absolutely huge. In the two sets Nadal has won, Nadal has gotten a break in Haase’s first service game, and then gone on to win the set with some ease. When he hasn’t gotten an early break, Haase has won the set. It’s been that simple.

Will Nadal’s fifth set be as easy as Federer’s was on Day 1?

Wimbledon: Robin Haase Takes Third Set; One Set Away From Upset Over No. 2 Rafael Nadal

No. 2 Rafael Nadal is one set away from his first loss at Wimbledon since 2007.

The 2008 Wimbledon champion lost the second set to young Dutchman Robin Haase 6-3, by one break.

Haase gained the edge in the third frame with an incredible running forehand on break point in the sixth game of the set.

Could Isner-Mahut actually wind up not being the biggest headline of the day?

No. 6 Robin Soderling Easily Defeats Granollers In Straight Sets

No. 6 Robin Soderling came away with an easy straight sets win over Spain’s Marcel Granollers, winning the second round match 7-5, 6-1, 6-4.

Of all the players considered to have a shot at this title, it’s pretty safe to say that none has been more impressive than Soderling. As others have faltered, many experts have pegged Soderling as the sharpest player in the Gentlemen’s Singles draw.

Of course, this comes as no surprise to me, since I was clairvoyant enough to make him my pre-tournament predicted winner.

Wimbledon: No. 2 Rafael Nadal Takes Second Set 6-2

Rafael Nadal has started playing even more aggressively than he was before, and successfully beat the very powerful Robin Haase in a punch-for-punch second set.

Nadal broke in the first and seventh games of the set.

Wimbledon: No. 2 Rafael Nadal Loses First Set To Robin Haase

Even though the ceremony that ended Isner-Mahut may have made it seem like this tournament had ended, there’s still a whole lot left to decide today on Day 4.

Big-serving Dutchman Robin Haase has won the first set against 2008 Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal, 7-5.

Haase was a much-touted young up-and-comer before suffering a knee injury that has kept him out for most of the last two years.

Nadal has already broken to open the second set, though, so things are looking better for the 2008 champion.

Wimbledon: No. 4 Andy Murray Puts On Regal Showing In Front Of Queen

With Queen Elizabeth II looking on from the front row of the Royal Box, No. 4 Andy Murray convincingly beat Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

After Murray’s match, The Queen had a private audience with the two on a balcony overlooking the grounds. After stopping to look at the trophies that will be awarded to each singles champion, The Queen got into her Jaguar and was driven away, waving to her adoring public from the motorcade.

Wimbledon: No. 16 Maria Sharapova Wins Convincingly Over Olaru

Maria Sharapova, champion of Wimbledon 2004, registered a dominant 6-1, 6-4 win over Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru to make the third round of the Ladies’ Singles draw for the first time since 2007.

Sharapova suffered embarrassing second round defeats in each of the last two Wimbledons, losing to Alla Kudryavtseva in 2008 and Gisela Dulko in 2009.

Sharapova cruised through the first set easily, but had a tougher time in the second set as Olaru picked up her game to level the set at 4-4.

But Sharapova steeled herself well, and closed out the match two games later.

Sharapova looks to be in good shape for what’s looking like a very likely fourth round encounter with No. 1 Serena Williams.

Wimbledon: No. 23 Zheng Jie Upset By Petra Kvitova

No. 23 Zheng Jie, a 2008 Wimbledon semifinalist, has lost to unseeded Petra Kvitova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Kvitova’s win was a victory for power over finesse, with Kvitova finally finding the range on her powerful ground strokes late in third set, winning the final four games of the match.

It’s a disappointing loss for the wildly inconsistent Zheng, who hasn’t made any noise to speak of this year since reaching the Australian Open semifinals this January.

Wimbledon: Queen Elizabeth II Arrives, Dines

Queen Elizabeth II is at the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club for the first time in 33 years.

After going through a receiving line of tennis greats that included Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, the Queen ate lunch with another group of tennis' elites that included British greats Tim Henman and Virginia Wade.  The group ate salmon, chicken, and some traditionally Wimbledonish strawberries.

The Queen is now seated  in the front row of The Royal Box at Centre Court watching Andy Murray vs. Jarkko Nieminen, quite visible in a bright robin's egg blue ensemble.

It has been announced that she will stay until 4 PM, when she will depart for tea time.

Wimbledon, Day 4: Five Matches To Watch

Other than the obviously huge Isner-Mahut resumption (which we will be following here), here are the big five matches to watch for Day 4 at Wimbledon 2010

1. Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs No. 4 Andy Murray (GBR) (8 AM EST on ESPN2) -- Playing in front of Queen Elizabeth during her first visit to Wimbledon in 33 years, Andy Murray will take on tricky Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen in a dangerous second round match. Murray is already the last British player remaining in either singles draw, and that combined with playing in front of royalty could make him justifiably jittery. It will be interesting to see how he manages his nerves (and his brattiness).

2. No. 1 Serena Williams (USA) vs Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) (~10 AM EST on ESPNU) -- Serena Williams, who has been asked about practicing her curtsy in preparation for potentially playing in front of The Queen, cannot be at all happy with being relegated to Court 2 for this match, with placement on Centre Court being given to No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki. What's especially surprising about that decision is that Serena's opponent, Anna Chakvetadze, is also way more well known than Wozniacki's (Kai-Chen Chang). Chakvetadze is a former top-five player who made the semifinals of the 2007 US Open, but totally fell off the map after she was brutally attacked during a home in vasion in Moscow that winter.

3. Robin Haase (NED) vs No. 2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) (~1 PM EST on ESPN2) -- Rafael Nadal was extremely impressive in his first match against Kei Nishikori, and will face a similar challenge from big-hitting Dutchman Robin Haase in the second round. Haase should be able to hold serve more easily than Nishikori was, so expect some close sets.

4. No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) vs Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) (~1 PM EST, Likely Untelevised) -- These two have played some great matches previously in their career, hence the scheduling committee's somewhat surprising move to put these two relatively obscure guys on the second-biggest stage at the tournament. Mathieu is more of a natural fast court player, but Youzhny is playing better now than he has at any point since he smashed that racquet into his head repeatedly.

5. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) vs No. 19 Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) (~1 PM EST, Likely Untelevised) -- Svetlana Kuznetsova nearly lost to Akgul Amanmuradova in the first round, a far inferior player to Rodionova. Based on current form alone, it could probably be said that Rodionova should win this match, an astounding notion given the fact that Kuznetsova won the 2009 French Open and spent most of the last year or so in the top five.