| Monday, 30 June 2008 Written by Byron Vale Mario Ancic, the last man to beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon - in a shock first-round result way back in 2002 - set up a quarter-final rematch by seeing off 22nd seed Fernando Verdasco in a marathon match. Against Verdasco, the Croat found himself two sets down but fought back to claim a 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11 victory. Verdasco had won the first two sets comfortably as Ancic gifted him breaks with a series of loose shoots in the deciding games. The Spaniard, on the other hand, had not provided Ancic with a solitary break. In fact, during those first two sets, Ancic did not win more than two points on the Spaniard’s serve.
But if Verdasco, who was a runner-up at Nottingham in the lead up to Wimbledon, thought he was in for a short afternoon he was in for a shock. Ancic denied him a break point in the third set and converted the only one he earned on the Verdasco serve to gain a toehold in the match.
The Ancic comeback appeared shortlived when Verdasco broke early in the fourth set, but the world number 43 broke back twice to take the set and level the match.
Verdasco must have fancied his chances in a fifth set against a player who been on court two hours longer than himself to reach this stage and had suffered a serious bout of glandular fever last year. If anything, however, the longer the match wore on the more Ancic looked the likely winner. He broke first with the scores at 6-6 as Verdasco double-faulted – one of 14 he made in the match - but, with victory in his grasp, Ancic faltered and lost four straight points with a succession of mistimed shots on his serve.
The deciding break came when Verdasco was let down by the two shots that had bought him so much success, his serve and his forehand. The Spaniard defended two match points but could do nothing as the Croatian landed his 15th ace of the match to secure a chance to repeat his most famous win. "I think the match by itself was unbelievable, was dramatic, Ancic said after his win. "Wimbledon means so much to me. Actually it feels maybe even a little bit more because I missed it last year and I didn't know you know, like when I remember last year where I was, and this year, straightaway for me I feel like a winner. "I really feel, you know, for me this is the tournament I grew up with. This is the tournament I always felt great and always great memories." And when questioned about his famous victory over Federer six year's ago, Ancic replied: "It's unbelievable, because since then he hasn't lost on grass. However the Roger Federer I beat wasn’t Roger Federer as we know him today. "It was the up and coming, top 10 player who was at that moment struggling on Grand Slams. I think from year after when he won Wimbledon he explode, and today he's completely different player. Six year's on, we're both better players."
| Court 11 - Gentlemen's Singles - 4th Round | |
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