| Sunday, 6 July 2008 Written by AELTC staff The Wimbledon website team reviews the matches of the 2008 Championships. All the matches below are available to watch on Wimbledon LIVE. Click here for more information. Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7
The most eagerly anticipated match of the Championships more than exceeded expectations, with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer treating Centre Court to five sets and 4 hours and 48 minutes of some of the most exhilarating tennis the venerable stadium has ever had the privilege to see. Here were the top two players in the world exchanging brilliant, breath-taking rallies, returning the unreturnable and battling on every single point to the limits of their ability. Nadal took a two-set lead but the defending champion clawed his way back. After play resumed following a 70-minute rain delay, the five-time champion won the third and fourth sets on tie-breaks to force a deciding set. After another rain delay struck with the match delicately poised at 2-2 and deuce, the two players resumed to embark on the final chapter of this enthralling match. As the set wore on, the match become the longest ever men’s final at Wimbledon. At 7-7, it was Nadal who broke serve. Even now, with the Spaniard serving for the match, Federer doggedly held on to his title: the Swiss saved one Championship point with an astonishing backhand but could not save a second. Nadal collapsed to the floor in victory; annointed as the new men’s champion.
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David Bates Venus Williams def. Serena Williams 7-5, 6-4
It may not have had the twists and turns of a classic final but Venus Williams’ 7-5, 6-4 defeat of sister Serena in straight sets was a gripping contest that turned on just a handful of critical points. Had Serena not flinched in the 12th game of the first set, the outcome might have been different. She started the stronger, breaking early and sending down a flurry of baseline belters against a shell-shocked Venus. But the elder sister clawed her way back, standing firm as her serve came under attack and proving marginally the stronger in many of the marathon rallies. She also sent down the fastest serve of the tournament, at 129mph. The Williams sisters were the form players of the two weeks, keeping their heads as the other seeds crumbled around them. Neither dropped a set en route to the final, and when they finally met there was only a hairbreadth between them.
Adam James Ana Ivanovic def. Nathalie Dechy 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 10-8
And it ended with a kiss...in the first really dramatic match of this year's Championships, top seed Ana Ivanovic survived a lip-quivering scare in a second-round tussle with Nathalie Dechy and then celebrated by planting a delicate smacker on the net cord that saved her. Dechy's big moment looked like it had finally arrived when, after giving her young competitor a first-set lesson in accuracy, she worked her way towards two match points. On the second of these, Ivanovic hit a forehand bang into the top of the net. After a second or so the ball dropped just right for Ivanovic. Having saved her own skin, Ivanovic started to play out of it to clinch victory and we took our own hats off to the two players who kept us so enthralled for three hours and 24 minutes.
John Hand Marat Safin def. Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
When Marat Safin stepped on to Centre Court to do battle with third seed Novak Djokovic in the second round everyone predicted the Russian would be the one packing his bags that night. After all he was languishing at number 75 in the world rankings, while Djokovic, tennis experts had argued, was one of the serious contenders for the Wimbledon title. So it was a joy to see former world number one Safin keep his head and produce some of the glittering baseline form that helped him scoop the US and Australian Open titles in 2000 and 2005 respectively. The 28-year-old swept aside Djokovic with conviction and went on to reach the semi-final – his best ever Wimbledon performance – delighting not only himself but Safin fans around the world.
Helen Gilbert Andy Murray def. Richard Gasquet 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 6-4
Murray-mania hit new heights after Scotland’s finest pulled off a dramatic nerve-sapping five-set victory over flamboyant Frenchman Richard Gasquet and moved into the quarter-finals. The match had everything you could have asked for – a scintillating comeback, heart-raising highs, ominous lows, a tie-break, rip-roaring rallies, an electric atmosphere and plenty of fist-pumping. Boy oh boy, Murray was so fired up after his achievement that he treated the crowd to a glimpse of a Popeye-style bicep.
Beci Wood Zheng Jie def. Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1
Wild card entrant Zheng Jie, ranked 133 in the world, reached the semi-final of the ladies’ singles, and became the first Chinese woman in the last four of a Grand Slam. To get there, she beat 18th seed Nicole Vaidisova, who had not been playing her best tennis this year and so was ripe for Zheng to attack. And that she did. Though the match became a little scrappy in places, Zheng was undeterred. She got on with the job at hand with quiet focus. And in the most modest fashion: the quickest of fist-clenches, with the tiniest of pumps, was as emotional as the Chinese woman got, both to congratulate herself and to gee herself up.
Sally Easton Rainer Schuettler def. Arnaud Clement 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (9-7), 8-6
Five sets. Five hours. Two days. Two tie-breaks. 61 games, but only one winner. Rainer Schuettler and Arnaud Clement engaged in an epic battle between two journeymen who had briefly got within touching distance of Grand Slam glory earlier in the decade – each making the final of the Australian Open – before spending the subsequent years trying to re-create former glories. Due to rain on Wednesday, the match only got under way just before 7pm while most fans were busy on Centre Court and Henman Hill following Andy Murray versus Rafael Nadal. By the time night fell, Schuettler and Clement had shared the first two sets. But the best was yet to come. The following day’s epic was a virtual best-of-three that went to two tie-breaks and beyond 6-6 in the decider. As the fifth set ebbed and flowed, play was twice suspended due to rain, at 4-4 then on deuce at 6-6. After the final resumption, Schuettler seized the day, wining the next two points to break and then serving out to win the match 8-6 in the fifth. The German’s “reward” was a semi-final thrashing the following day at the hands of Rafael Nadal, while Clement was merely left to rue what might have been.
Drew Lilley Chris Eaton def. Boris Pashanski 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
Out on Court No 3, in the dying light, when the television cameras had turned their attention elsewhere, a qualifier called Chris Eaton produced the quintessential British performance. Eaton, the lowest ranked player in the men’s draw, beat Boris Pashanski, the dashing 20-year-old sending down 26 aces and displaying the full range of shots – from the exquisite to the downright lucky. This match never quite scaled the heights, but it enthralled the crowd, particularly during the second set tie-break where, after conceding an early mini-break, Eaton fought back to win 8-6.
Byron Vale Laura Robson def. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
Laura Robson beating Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in three sets in the final of the girls’ singles was one of the most memorable match of the tournament for supporters of British tennis. Having Andy and Jamie Murray fall short of their trophy ambitions and the rest of the nation’s best players eliminated in the early rounds, it was left to a slender 14-year-old from just around the corner to add a sparkle to the Championships. The young Brit walked on to a packed No.1 Court and produced a magical moment of tennis in the biggest match of a blossoming career. She controlled the majority of the match, handling the pressure situation of a third set in a junior Grand Slam final against a tough competitor from Thailand. Her victory famously ended a British drought in junior events lasting 24 years.
Mike Burke Tamarine Tanasugarn def. Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 6-3
Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn always seems to be an unsung hero at the Championships. But she got the credit she deserved this year with an amazing run to the quarter-finals. Tanasugarn was in the form of her life at SW19, after winning the Ordina Open in Holland a week before the Championships. The evergreen 31-year-old took on up-and-coming Russian Vera Zvonareva in round two in a fine game of tennis. Tanasugarn took the first set 10-8 on a tie-break but looked dead and buried following treatment on a hamstring injury after Zvonareva had taken the second set. But Tanasugarn recovered to win the third set and knock out the No 13 seed in 2½ hours of top quality entertainment.
Ian Baker Nadia Petrova def. Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (13-11), 7-6 (7-4)
In the third round, No.21 seed Nadia Petrova produced a vintage display of power and precision to sneak past No.16 seed Victoria Azarenka in two tie-break sets. Both players came out firing on all cylinders, equally willing to go for broke at the earliest opportunity. Indeed, given the display of powerful serving and head-spinning rallies, the match acquired the tempo of a men’s match. Ultimately the 26-year-old Russian, ranked as high as three in the world before injuries took their toll, kept her cool better in the critical moments than 18-year-old Azarenka, who was able to convert just one of nine break points. But Azarenka attacks each ball with Seles-esque relish, and it surely won’t be long before the Belarusian is a true Grand Slam contender.
Adam Lincoln
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