Taiwan's Lu shocks Roddick at Wimbledon
Sisters still on course for another final
Lu Yen-Shun of Taiwan had already gone farther at Wimbledon than any man ever had from his country, and on Monday he toppled three-time finalist Andy Roddick in the second longest match of the tournament.
Lu won 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 9-7 to reach the quarter-finals.
Match point was set up by a successful challenge by Lu of a call that had originally gone Roddick's way, and the 82nd ranked player in the world successfully passed the American at the net to pull off the upset.
"Even now, I was thinking it's a dream or something," Lu told BBC immediately following the match. "I couldn't imagine this moment."
Lu had a strong chance to put the match away in the fourth set tiebreak, going up 3-0, but No. 5 seed Roddick roared back.
"I needed time to clear my mind and calm down," Lu admitted of the temporary setback.
Roddick lost to Roger Federer in a suspenseful final last year, but this time around endured tough battles in the first week against Michael Llodra of France and Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.
Clijsters wins Belgian battle
Kim Clijsters prevailed in three sets over Justine Henin, a matchup of Belgian champions who are both on the comeback trail.
Clijsters rallied for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 win to go ahead 13-12 in the lifetime series against Henin.
Henin received treatment on her right elbow on three changeovers after slipping and falling to the turf as she charged to the net at 2-1 in the first set. She said the elbow was "quite painful" and bothered her on her serves and backhands, but didn't know the extent of the problem.
"We'll see in the next few days," said Henin, who has seven Grand Slam titles but not yet at Wimbledon.
Henin seemed in complete command after easily winning the first set, but Clijsters lifted her game in the second to turn things around.
"She came out of the blocks really fast and she started dominating from the beginning of the rallies and I kind of felt overwhelmed by it," Clijsters said. "It was up to me at the beginning of the second set to stay in the points and serve better.
"I had to stay in the rallies and that's how I turned it around, a few longer rallies where I felt that I was hitting the ball better and it was going my way in the end."
Clijsters made the decisive break in eighth game of the final set after Henin sailed a forehand long, then closed out the match on serve. The two players, who had a frosty relationship for many years, exchanged kisses on the cheek at the net.
Clijsters is at the tournament for the first time since 2006 after a retirement and childbirth, while Henin also retired for a spell and was competing in Wimbledon for the first time in three years.
"I can't believe we're back to this after so many years of battling against each other," Clijsters said. "I think this was our 25th battle, so we go way back but we play really good tennis and I think we showed some good stuff out there today."
Clijsters moves on to face Russian Vera Zvonareva, who reaches the quarter-final at the All England Club for the first time.
Zvonareva only had to play 10 games, as No. 4 Jelena Jankovic retired because of a back injury.
The Serb had treatment Monday when trailing Zvonareva 6-1, 3-0 and retired three points later. It is the fourth time Jankovic has bowed out in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Roddick said Lu was the more deserving to win, but described his return game as "crap."
Each player broke just once, but Roddick had eight chances to three for his opponent.
"He did a good job of controlling the middle of the court," said Roddick. "If I was through the middle he was getting length and driving the ball.
Roddick got testy in response to more than one question after the match, especially when asked whether he would wake up on Tuesday either "pissed off or disappointed."
"No … I'm going to be thrilled," Roddick said.
When pressed that he's been through Grand Slam disappoinments before, Roddick offered: It never gets easier. Of course I'm going to be pissed off when I wake up tomorrow. If you got fired from your job, you'd probably wake up the next day not in a great mood.
"Come on, let's go, we're better than those questions."
The match lasted four hours, 36 minutes, second only to the 11-hour marathon put on by John Isner of the U.S. and France's Nicolas Mahut.
Lu will meet No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the quarters. The Serbian survived 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Federer and sisters Venus and Serena Williams, with 14 Wimbledon singles titles among them, stayed on target to add to that total by each advancing to the quarter-finals.
Venus Williams prevailed 6-4, 7-5 (6) over Jarmila Groth of Australia. The second seed is looking to reach the ninth Wimbledon final of her career and will next take on unseeded Tszvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.
Williams, a five-time singles winner, converted her only break point opportunity to take the first set after Groth netted a sloppy backhand volley.
Groth, who's originally from Slovakia, squandered two opportunities to serve for the second set and made unforced errors in the final two points of the tiebreaker.
"There wasn't a lot of room for error for either one of us against each other's serve," Williams said. "She played really well today. I didn't think she made too many errors. Just really played some smart tennis and took advantage of opportunities. I played well at the end to close it out."
An all-Williams singles final at All England Club could be in the cards for a fifth time. Serena Williams won a gruelling first set, the turning point in a 7-6 (9), 6-4 victory over 2004 champion Maria Sharapova.
Serena Williams served 19 aces for the second straight match.
"I don't serve like this too often," Williams said. "I don't know what it is about this court that makes me serve well."
Williams, who hit four aces in the opening game, saved three set points in the tiebreaker to stay in command.
"I played really well and I thought I had my chances," said Sharapova, who hurt her own cause with seven double faults. "If it was not for her really great serving, I certainly had a real good look at winning the match."
In 2004, a 17-year-old Sharapova stunned Williams 6-1, 6-4 for her first Grand Slam title.
"That was so long ago that I don't think it gives me any more added or any less satisfaction," Williams said after Monday's match. "We're both different players. She's obviously improved. Hopefully I've improved since six years ago."
Sharapova came back from 3-1 down in the first set and had Williams on the ropes in the tiebreaker, but failed to convert. Leading 6-4, she hit a forehand into the net and Williams then smacked a forehand winner for 6-all.
With Sharapova up 8-7, Williams hit a service winner to save another set point. At 9-all, Sharapova double-faulted. Williams then converted her third set point by serving her 13th ace.
Serving for the match in the second set, Williams hit another ace and a service winner. She finished with 31 winners and 17 errors, while Sharapova had 14 winners and 18 errors.
The Williams sisters are also gunning for a fifth consecutive Grand Slam doubles title.
Prime form
Federer, who dropped three sets during the first week, was in prime form in an 84-minute dispatch of French Open semifinalist Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
The six-time champion won by scores of 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
"I thought I played great," he said. "Aggressive right from the start."
Federer meets Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals. The No. 12 seed from the Czech Republic defeated Daniel Brands of Germany 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5, 6-3.
No. 4 Andy Murray kept British hopes alive with a straight sets win over No. 18 Sam Querrey of the U.S. The young Scotsman won by scores of 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
The last British man to win Wimbledon was Fred Perry in 1936.
No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is next for Murray. Tsonga won an all-French matchup 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 over Julien Benneteau.
Rafael Nadal, who ended Federer's string of championships in an epic 2008 final, was the last marquee player to finish up on Monday.
Nadal enjoyed his most impressive performance so far, a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Paul-Henri Mathieu of France. Nadal had to come from 2-1 down in sets twice in the first week of the tournament.
Nadal's result will mean a rematch of the French Open final of earlier this month in the quarters. Two-time French Open finalist and No. 6 seed Robin Soderling of Sweden survived No. 9 David Ferrer of Spain 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Bulgaria's Pironkava knocked off No. 11 seed and 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli of France 6-4, 6-4.
Li Na advanced to a match with Serena Williams. The Chinese player, seeded ninth, reached the Wimbledon quarters for the second time in her career with a victory over No. 7 Agnieszka Radwanksa of Poland 6-3, 6-2.
There will be a guaranteed first-time Wimbledon semifinalist on the women's side, with one of Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic or Estonia's Kaia Kenepi moving on to that stage.
In the biggest upset of the day on the women's side, Kvitova routed No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-2, 6-0. Kanepi downed Klara Zakopaova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4.
With files from The Associated Press