Wimbledon Capsules: Roddick edges Hewitt to return to Wimbledon semis

WIMBLEDON, England - This one meant so much to Andy Roddick.

Because of the stakes: a return to Wimbledon's semifinals. Because of the opponent: 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt. And because of the circumstances: a five-set grind that began under a bright sun and concluded in shadows, 3 hours, 50 minutes later.

When it was over, having finally figured out a way to get past Hewitt 6-3, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4, Roddick let out a sigh and raised a fist, then threw his racket down, sat in his changeover chair and covered his face with his hands.

"A mixture of happiness, of relief. In your mind, you're kind of trying to stay the course for four hours, constantly figuring out what you're going to do," said Roddick, who swatted 43 aces in Wednesday's quarterfinals at the All England Club. "Your mind is just racing."

He hadn't been to the final four at Wimbledon since 2005; even lost in the second round a year ago. He hadn't won a five-setter at any Grand Slam tournament in 2½ years. But Roddick came through in the crunch, saving three break points while trailing 2-1 in the fifth set, before earning the decisive break in a 14-point game to go ahead 5-4.

"It's going to pay big dividends, winning a tight match like this," said Roddick's coach, Larry Stefanki. "He hasn't done that in a long time."

Roddick-Hewitt was the only quarterfinal pitting two men who have been ranked No. 1, and the only one involving two men who have won a major championship. It also was the most riveting contest, not to mention the longest.

"It certainly wasn't short on drama," Roddick said. "It was tough from a mental standpoint, because Lleyton wasn't going away, and there were kind of a lot of ebbs and flows."

Next up for the No. 6-seeded Roddick: a semifinal against No. 3 Andy Murray, who beat 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. Murray is trying to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, so he will be backed by quite a crowd in what the locals will bill as "Andy vs. Andy."

"We might be able to count the people for me on this hand," Roddick said, raising his right mitt. "I'm just going to pretend when they say, ‘Come on, Andy!' that they mean me."

The other semifinal Friday is No. 2 Roger Federer against No. 24 Tommy Haas. It's a rematch of a June 1 French Open fourth-round match in which Haas took the first two sets and was five points away from winning, before Federer won en route to claiming his first title at Roland Garros.

That gave Federer his 14th Grand Slam championship, tying Pete Sampras' career record. He can surpass that mark here.

"It would be writing in the history books of tennis," Federer said, then cautioned: "It's not there yet. Still far away. Many points, many serves, many forehands."

Seeking a sixth Wimbledon title, he beat No. 22 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (3). Haas knocked off No. 4 Novak Djokovic of Serbia 7-5, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3.

Federer completely took the sting out of the intimidating serves of the 6-foot-10 Karlovic, who had won 79 of 79 service games through more than 9 hours of play across his first four matches at Wimbledon - and 128 of 128 service games if you add in his previous tournament, too.

So wouldn't you know it: Federer needed all of 8 minutes and two Karlovic service games to break the big fella.

Federer hit three return winners, including a forehand off a 122 mph serve on break point, to take a 3-1 lead. That set the tone.

Karlovic, best known for upsetting defending champion Hewitt at Wimbledon in the first round in 2003, was asked why Federer dealt with his serve better than other players do.

"Oh, it is only because he is better than everybody else," Karlovic said. "That's it."

Federer outperformed Karlovic by winning 74 of 85 points in his own service games. Only once did Karlovic so much as get to deuce on Federer's serve, midway through the third set, and here is how the Swiss star responded: service winner at 129 mph, ace at 128 mph.

Take aces out of the equation - Karlovic led 23-7 in that category - and Federer wound up with a 32-6 advantage in other winners as he reached the semifinals at a 21st Grand Slam tournament in a row, extending his own record. No one else in tennis history ever made it to more than 10 consecutive major semifinals.

"It's hard to believe I achieved it, because looking back, it's not just I'm looking back on a few weeks or a month or a year or so. It's really way back," said Federer, who last exited a tournament before this stage at the 2004 French Open. "Quite a streak."

Indeed it is. Consider: The other men left in the tournament all have Grand Slam semifinal streaks of exactly one. Murray and Haas never had been this far at Wimbledon before, while Roddick lost to Federer in the 2003 semifinals and the 2004 and 2005 finals at the All England Club.

Roddick's only major championship came at the 2003 U.S. Open. In trying to add a second, he recently tweaked his diet, says he's in the best shape of his career and has tinkered with his game since hiring Stefanki for this season, working on returns, volleying and backhands.

Those elements helped against Hewitt, who gutted things out Wednesday despite a bothersome left thigh.

Roddick started close to perfectly, making one unforced error in the opening set. He won 20 of 26 points on his serve in that set, and also received a bit of a gift from Hewitt, who double-faulted twice in a row to get broken in the second game.

But in the match's first tiebreaker, Roddick blew a 5-2 lead, then three set points. He also wasted a 2-0 lead in the fourth set.

"A lot of chances to hang his head," Stefanki noted. "He didn't."

Trailing 2-1 in the fifth, Roddick saved one break point with a 126 mph ace, and another thanks to what he called "probably the best half-volley I've ever hit in my life." At 4-all, Roddick fended off three game points for Hewitt, then converted a break point with a forehand passing shot.

"We were giving everything we had out there," Hewitt said.

Roddick just had a little more in his game than he used to. Now he'll see if it will be enough against Murray, who leads their head-to-head series 6-2.

Coming off the court after overwhelming Ferrero, Murray was asked whether he would prefer to play Roddick or Hewitt, whose quarterfinal was barely under way.

"I'd just like them to have a long match," Murray said with a snicker, "so they're a little bit tired for the semis."

He got his wish.

Everyone expects Williams vs. Williams again 

WIMBLEDON, England - Pretty much everyone is impressed by the way Venus and Serena Williams dominate at Wimbledon.

Even Roger Federer, who knows a thing or two himself about success at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.

"It seems when they're playing well," Federer observed, "that there's not much of a chance for the other girls."

That is true, particularly when it comes to Wimbledon, where recent records and the rankings don't seem to have any bearing on how the Williams sisters will fare. Remember: Serena Williams showed up at the All England Club with a 4-5 record since early April. Her older sibling Venus was not much better in that span, going 6-5. Both trail No. 1 Dinara Safina in the rankings.

And yet, if No. 2 Serena beats No. 4 Elena Dementieva in Thursday's semifinals, and No. 3 Venus gets past Safina, they would set up the fourth all-Williams title match at Wimbledon and second in a row. As it is, one Williams or the other has won seven of the past nine championships here.

"I mean, it's been quite incredible what Venus has been able to do here at Wimbledon also, winning five times, just being so consistent for so many years," Federer said. "Serena obviously having won the career Grand Slam already, since a long time has always been one of the biggest contenders for any major in the last few years. I like to watch them because they're very powerful."

Yes, there is little doubt who is expected to meet in Saturday's final.

"You never know what could happen," said eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who lost to Serena 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, "but I'm pretty sure they're playing very good tennis, and they deserve to play in the final."

It's the first time the top four-seeded women all reached the semifinals at a major tournament since it happened at Wimbledon in 2006. Yet the matchups could hardly appear more lopsided.

Venus leads Safina 2-1 in previous meetings, while Serena leads Dementieva 5-3. Of more significance might be these statistics: Venus is 12-4 in Grand Slam semifinals with seven titles, and Safina is 3-1 with zero titles; Serena is 13-2 in Grand Slam semifinals with 10 titles, and Dementieva is 2-5 with zero titles.

Venus is bidding to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1991-93 to win Wimbledon three years in a row and is trying for No. 6 overall. Serena beat Venus in the 2002 and 2003 finals at the All England Club.

"We have a great game. We have strong serves. I think we have pretty good returns," Serena said. "We both move pretty well. So I think that's a pretty solid game."

Should a championship match come about, they would turn into rivals. Until then, though, they are teammates.

They're sharing a house during the tournament. They practice together - an advantage no one else on tour has. And they're playing doubles as a pair, defending their Wimbledon title and reaching the semifinals by defeating Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Vania King of the United States 6-2, 7-5 Wednesday.

With Dad snapping photos from the stands, the sisters sure formed an opposing duo warming up side-by-side along the baseline. When Venus smacked an ace to end the opening game, she and Serena slapped palms.

Their interaction doesn't change much as they move closer to a possible Grand Slam final.

They are, after all, used to this: There have been seven all-Williams championship matches at majors, with Serena holding a 5-2 lead. Overall, the sisters are tied 10-10.

"We still encourage each other. I mean, on finals day, we don't say, ‘You can do it!' to each other. At the same time, we're doubles partners, too, so we have to be focused on the doubles court and work as a team," Venus said. "I mean, we've got it all figured out at this point, what's coming up. So the key is for us both to do well and to get to that final."

-- Howard Fendrich

Blake, Fish reach doubles semifinals at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England - American duo James Blake and Mardy Fish reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon doubles tournament, putting them two wins away from a first Grand Slam title.

Blake hasn't won a doubles title since 2004, while Fish has won two this year with different partners.

"To be honest, we feel like we can win any tournament," Fish said after they defeated Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Paul Hanley of Australia 7-6 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (5) Wednesday in the quarterfinals. "We've won tournaments before, but it has been a little while. And we've beaten almost everybody out there. If we're both playing well we can do really well."

For a while, though, it looked like they may not even be able to enter the doubles tournament. Blake lost to Andreas Seppi of Italy in the first round in singles, and Fish told him it was OK if he wanted to skip doubles.

However, Blake decided to stick around since he is playing in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Croatia later this month.

"It makes a difference playing with a good friend and someone who is fun to play with," Blake said. "He sent a text right away that he'd understand if I needed to go, needed to leave, which was great. That's another good thing about playing with a singles player, who knows that (losing) feeling."

Fish lost in the third round to Novak Djokovic.

Blake and Fish upset third-seeded Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and Leander Paes of India in straight sets in the first round. They will next face second-seeded Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.

In the other semifinal, top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan will play Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium.

Neither Blake nor Fish had ever made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon before, in singles or doubles.

"Now we're in the Final Eight Club," Fish said.

AMERICAN JUNIORS

Unseeded Alex Domijan of Wesley Chapel, Fla., upset No. 1 Daniel Berta of Sweden 6-3, 6-3 in the junior tournament at Wimbledon on Wednesday to join two other Americans in the quarterfinals.

It was the second straight upset by Domijan, who beat 13th-seeded Hsieh Cheng Peng of Taiwan in the previous round. In the semifinals, Domijan will play Devin Britton, who won an NCAA title for the University of Mississippi in May.

The 17-year-old Domijan lost to Britton, of Jackson, Miss., last month on grass at the International Junior Championships in nearby Roehampton, England.

Qualifier Jordan Cox, of Duluth, Ga., also advanced after beating Andrei Vasilevski of Belarus 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Seventh-seeded Sloane Stephens, of San Pedro, Calif., is the last American girl remaining in the tournament after beating No. 10 Camila Silva of Chile 6-2, 7-6 (1).

Stephens will next face top-seeded Kristina Mladenovic of France in the quarterfinals.

The last American boy to win the Wimbledon junior title was Donald Young in 2007, while no U.S. girl has done it since Chanda Rubin in 1992.

No Americans reached the quarterfinal round of the 2008 junior tournaments.

GRANDMA JINX

Andy Murray's grandmother has been banned from the guest box at Wimbledon - by her own daughter.

Judy Murray is worried that her own mom, Shirley Erskine, will jinx Andy, who is trying to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the tournament.

Murray lost his last three matches attended by his grandmother - each time on his birthday.

"She is clearly a jinx and I'm not taking her again," Judy Murray told the Daily Express.

Murray comfortably beat Spanish wild card Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 Wednesday to reach his first Wimbledon semifinal - without Erskine at Centre Court.

However, grandma is still hoping to be let in for the semifinals.

"I'm trying to convince the family I'm not a jinx, because I want to be down there cheering Andy on," Erskine said. "If I could do anything to bring Andy good luck, I would."

MISSING MISS

The traditional use of the prefix "Miss" or "Mrs." before women's names on the Wimbledon scoreboards has been scrapped this year.

Wimbledon organizers decided to put the full name of female players on the scoreboards - like they do with the men - in yet another step by the All England Club to modernize the tournament. For the last 132 years, a prefix has always been used for the women.

However, umpires still refer to the players as Miss or Mrs. during matches.

-- Sandra Harwitt

Flu cases rise to 28 at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England - Flu-like symptoms are spreading among Wimbledon staff, although organizers said no personnel has been diagnosed with swine flu.

All England Club spokesman Johnny Perkins said Wednesday that 28 staffers have been asked to stay home - up from four on Monday. However, he said that's out of 6,000 staffers working at Wimbledon during the championships, meaning the number of cases was not abnormally high.

None of the 28 have been diagnosed with swine flu, he said.

"We'd keep you informed ... if there was any escalation above the normal sort of what you'd expect, but it would appear there isn't," Perkins said.

British newspaper Daily Mail reported Wednesday that three doubles players at the tournament had caught swine flu, but Perkins said organizers wouldn't comment.

"We can't, because we wouldn't necessarily know," Perkins said. "It's confidential between them and their medical staff."

Organizers sent out a statement Monday asking all visitors to use good hygiene at the tournament, and to stay home if they developed any symptoms of illness. Perkins said there had been no other precautions put in place to curb the outbreak.

"It's the same that it's always been. The precautions are in place beforehand, following any sort of government guidelines over here or anywhere around the world," he said.

Sarah Hames, an All England Club spokeswoman, said three of the four ball boys and girls who first reported flu-like symptoms have returned to work.

"Once they're free of symptoms for 24 hours they are allowed to come back to work," Hames said. "And they haven't just come back to sit and watch, they're back working. ... Washing hands is pretty much the singularly most important thing, and we obviously push that when it comes to the ball boys and girls, and that's why it hasn't escalated."

Wimbledon at a glance

WIMBLEDON, England - A look at Wimbledon on Wednesday:

Weather: Sunny, high of 90 degrees.

Attendance: 39,849, an increase of 4,647 from the second Wednesday in 2008.

Men's Quarterfinals: No. 2 Roger Federer beat No. 22 Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (3), No. 3 Andy Murray beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 6-2, No. 6 Andy Roddick beat Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4, No. 24 Tommy Haas beat No. 4 Novak Djokovic 7-5, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3.

Men's Semifinals Friday: Federer vs. Haas, Murray vs. Roddick.

Stat of the Day: 2 - Number of times Federer broke the 6-foot-10 Karlovic's serve. Karlovic had not been broken once in 79 service games through his first four matches in the tournament.

Quote of the Day: "There's a lot of respect there. We used to get into it a little bit when we were younger, but I think we definitely earned each other's respect. Now we're just a couple of old married dudes, so maybe we've grown up a little bit." - Roddick, after his nearly four-hour match against longtime rival Hewitt.

On Court Thursday: No. 1 Dinara Safina vs. No. 3 Venus Williams, No. 2 Serena Williams vs. No. 4 Elena Dementieva in the women's semifinals.

Thursday's Forecast: Sunny, high of 88 degrees.

Thursday's TV: ESPN2, 6 a.m. to 11 a.m.; NBC, noon to 5 p.m.

On the Web: http://www.wimbledon.org