Djokovic powers into fourth round at Wimbledon

LONDON: World number three Novak Djokovic surged into the fourth round at Wimbledon with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Spain’s Albert Montanes.

The 2008 Australian Open champion did not give Montanes a single break point throughout the match and was quick to take the upper hand as he broke for a 3-1 lead. Another break followed soon after as Djokovic won the first set in commanding fashion.

There was no let-up from Djokovic as he broke again in the first game of the second set when 28th-seed Montanes missed a routine forehand. Djokovic continued to hold serve with complete authority and that was all that was required to clinch the set.

Venus grinds past

Five-time champion Venus Williams secured a place in the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova. Venus had been in her typically vibrant form in the first two rounds, winning both matches for the loss of just nine games.

She hit seven aces, one bomb clocked at 128mph, to put the Russian on the back foot and despite stretching the second set to almost an hour she managed to claim a berth in the last-16.

Belgian eighth-seed Kim Clijsters powered into the fourth round as well with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Russia’s Maria Kirilenko while women’s fourth-seed Jelena Jankovic thrashed Ukrainian 28th seed Alona Bondarenko 6-0, 6-3.

Justine Henin is bent on progressing in the one tournament she never won by beating Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-4.

Isner bows out

Tennis record-smasher John Isner finally hit the wall when he was knocked out in his delayed second round match. Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker went through to the third round as he coasted to a 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the jaded American.

The American 23rd-seed had played for 11 hours and five minutes, and 183 games, in his epic record-breaking first-round clash with France’s Nicolas Mahut, spread over three days from Tuesday to Thursday.

Earlier, defending champion Serena Williams stormed into the third round with a ruthless 6-0, 6-1 rout of Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze on Thursday.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2010.