Venus, Serena advance easily, but Oudin ousted
Ivanovic forced to withdraw in second set; 17-year-old swept
 ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP/Getty Images Venus Williams led 6-1, 0-1 Monday when Ana Ivanovic called it quits. |
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WIMBLEDON, England - Venus Williams advanced to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon when opponent Ana Ivanovic retired one game into the second set Monday.
Williams, seeking her sixth Wimbledon title, led 6-1, love-1 when Ivanovic called it quits.
The Williams sisters remained on course for a rematch of last year’s all-family final, which Venus won. No. 2-seeded Serena Williams, seeking her third Wimbledon title, advanced by beating Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1.
Ivanovic said she hurt her thigh hitting an ace to erase a break point in the opening game of the second set.
“I didn’t feel anything up until that point,” she said. “When I landed, I just felt a sharp pain on my inner thigh, and I couldn’t step on my leg ever since.”
Ivanovic took a 10-minute break during the first game of the second set to have her left thigh taped by a trainer. She returned for two more points, but after hitting a service winner to take the game, she began crying as she walked to her chair and told the umpire she was retiring.
Then she hugged a sympathetic Williams.
“I don’t even know the last time that I had these circumstances,” Williams said. “I don’t think ever in a Slam. I think she was in a lot of pain. You know me — I’m one of those players, I just only pay attention to what’s going on my side of the net. But today I felt really sad for her actually. She was really upset.
“This is Wimbledon. It’s the last place you want to have an injury that you can’t overcome. So I’m wishing her a lot of luck in her recovery.”
Ivanovic said she didn’t yet know the extent of the injury. She hasn’t reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal since winning the 2008 French Open and briefly claiming the No. 1 ranking.
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No. 3-seeded Venus dominated from the start, taking a 5-0 lead before Ivanovic finally won a game 27 minutes into the match. Venus came into the match having won 29 consecutive sets at Wimbledon, the longest such streak since Martina Navratilova won 40 in a row in 1982-85.
Williams next plays No. 11-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who took advantage of some shaky moments by 17-year-old Melanie Oudin, a qualifier from Marietta, Ga. ranked 124th. The American flubbed an easy volley to lose the first set, and faded after leading by a break in the second set to lose 6-4, 7-5.
“I gave everything I had, and she played a really good match,” Oudin said. “She played very smart. She made me run as much as she possibly could.”
Oudin, making her Wimbledon debut this year, pulled the biggest upset in the first week by beating former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic. Oudin was the youngest American to reach the women’s fourth round at Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati was a quarterfinalist in 1993.
Top-ranked Dinara Safina of Russia has become the first player to win a match under Wimbledon’s new roof, rallying to beat Amelie Mauresmo of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 for a spot in the quarterfinals.
When the roof closed, many spectators responded with a standing ovation. Safina liked the new environment, too.
“It was great,” she said. “Very nice. You can’t compare it with anything. It’s a really nice atmosphere, especially with the crowd, because it’s getting like louder so it’s even nicer to play. I mean, I won, so everything was perfect.”
No. 8-ranked Victoria Azarenka beat No. 10 Nadia Petrova 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3, and she’ll face Serena Williams on Tuesday. No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki lost to Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 6-4.
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