Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Protest mars Zemlja’s win
Home fans rejoice as Laura Robson overcomes Colombia’s Marino Don’t give Aussies a sniff... let’s make up for 2001 defeat, Howley tells Lions
SERGIY STAKHOVKSY, the man who caused one of the biggest Wimbledon sensations by knocking out seventime champion Roger Federer, was himself dumped out at the All England Club yesterday.
The 27-year-old world No 116 went down 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 to experienced Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the third round.
Instead of the Centre Court, where he had ended Federer’s run of 36 successive quarterfinal appearances at majors, Stakhovksy was exiled to Court Three, where his challenge wasn’t helped by falling heavily on the slippery surface.
That required his ankle to be strapped and his challenge eventually petered out as 32- year- old Melzer reached the fourth round for the second time in his career and will next meet dangerous Pole Jerzy Janowicz.
Janowicz, seeded 24th, made the fourth round for the second successive year by beating Spanish 15th seed Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 6-4.
“I was broken early in the first set. I was nervous, but I was able to come back,” said Janowicz.
“Right now I’m playing really good tennis and I’m really confident.”
Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer reached the third round with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 win over compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut in a match held over from Thursday because of rain.
Rain also delayed play on the outside courts yesterday with Bulgarian 29th seed Grigor Dimitrov staging a temporary sit-down protest to register his anger at conditions on Court Three before he lost a five-set second round thriller.
Dimitrov, watched by girlfriend Maria Sharapova, who was knocked out on Wednesday, went out 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4, 11-9 to Slovenia’s Grega Zemlja.
When the tie resumed following Thursday’s suspension, 22- year- old Dimitrov slipped and fell in his service action at 8-9 in the final set to give up the third match point of the tie.
He stomped off to the sidelines and sat in his courtside chair.
The umpire and tournament referee then decided to wait out the drizzle before play resumed 10 minutes later.
But it didn’t change Dimitrov’s luck as Zemlja took victory on a sixth match point with a fine forehand passing shot.
“It started raining during the warm-up. I thought the umpire would say something,” said Dimitrov, a former boys champion at Wimbledon. “When I slipped, I fell down and hurt my hip. I told him, I’m not serving.”
Dimitrov, long touted as a future star of the sport, paid a heavy price for converting just two of 18 break points.
Zemlja, the first Slovenian to make the third round at Wimbledon, goes on to face Argentina’s eighth seed, Juan Martin del Potro.
“A lot of people are talking about the surfaces,” added Dimitrov. “It’s kind of tough for the aggressive movers. I consider myself as a pretty aggressive mover on the court.
“It’s tough when the grass is really slippery. You’ve got to adjust. That’s the one thing. You know it’s not going to change much except the headlines.”
Britain’s Laura Robson made the third round with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Colombian qualifier Mariana DuqueMarino and goes on to face Marina Erakovic of New Zealand for a last-16 spot.
“I’ve lost to her on grass before. She’s got a big game, a huge serve, a good slice as well. Pretty much a perfect game for grass,” Robson said.
Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, a quarterfinalist in 2010, knocked out German seventh seed Angelique Kerber, who made the semifinals last year, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.
“I had my chances in the second set, but didn’t take them,” said Kerber, who was 5/1 up in the tiebreaker. “In the third she was playing unbelievable and I couldn’t do anything. “
Later last night, second seed Andy Murray, looking to become Britain’s first men’s champion since 1936, faced Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo on Centre Court hoping to seal a place in the last 16.
The world number two is in the bottom half of the draw which has seen seven-time champion Federer, reigning French Open champion Rafael Nadal, dangerous sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 10th seed Marin Cilic all depart.
The bottom half of the women’s draw has been similarly devastated after world number two Victoria Azerenka withdrew with a knee injury and world number three, Sharapova, slumped to shock defeat against Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito.
The highest-ranked player left in that section is the 2011 champion Petra Kvitova, seeded eighth, who faces Ekaterina Makarova, the Russian 25th seed, for a place in the last-16.
Larcher De Brito faces Italy’s Karin Knapp, while former finalist Marion Bartoli, the 15th seeded Frenchwoman, tackles Italy’s Camila Giorgi. – Sapa-AFP ASSISTANT coach Rob Howley yesterday warned the British and Irish Lions to put the Wallabies “to bed” and not endure his nightmare memories of losing a series in Australia from a position of strength.
The Lions enter today’s pivotal second Test one up in the series after a titanic 23-21 win in last weekend’s Brisbane opener and can clinch their first series in 16 years with victory in Melbourne.
Welshman Howley was scrumhalf when the Lions were in a similar position 12 years ago only to lose the final two Tests and the series to the Wallabies.
Howley said inspirational Irish centre Brian O’Driscoll, the sole survivor of the 2001 Lions tour to Australia, has spoken to the current Lions this week about seizing the opportunity of inflicting a series triumph on the Wallabies.
“Brian O’Driscoll has been hugely influential, I think his experience of 2001 – you learn from those experiences and we spoke of those experiences yesterday,” Howley told a matcheve press conference.
“There’s probably one player that deserves it more than anyone else and that is Brian O’Driscoll. He’s been fantastic for northern hemisphere rugby, world rugby, but it just shows how hard it is to win a (Lions) Test series.”
Howley played in the first two Tests of the 2001 series when the Wallabies fought back to win the second Test 3514 before taking the decider in Sydney 29-23.
“I’ve never had the opportunity again, they don’t come round too often,” Howley said.
“I think you can only look at Brian O’Driscoll, that was 12 years ago, a guys who’s won Six Nations, Grand Slams, Heineken Cups, the one trophy that’s missing is winning a Lions series.
“That’s what he was talking about yesterday, just make sure we don’t have any regrets over the next 24-48 hours. Make sure it happens the way we want it to happen.”
Howley said there was an attitude within the Lions camp to finish the job against the Wallabies, who face a do-or-die battle to take it to a series decider next week.
“Backs against the wall, wounded Wallaby, they’re going to come out and play. High risk, high reward,” he said. “You talk about 80 games of one minute, that’s the concentration levels you’ll need.
“There’s no doubt the Wallabies will come out and they’ll want to play rugby, that’s the only way they like to play.”
Howley said the Lions would need to focus on the job, saying there was “a learning curve” which started with their narrow victory last weekend.
“Obviously, Australia will offer us something different, that’s for sure,” he said.
“We have to be alert, not let them take quick penalties, not allowing them to take quick lineouts. It’s about being totally aware all the time.
“That’s what this (Lions) jersey will require today,” Howley said.
The assistant coach said the team had to grab the opportunity to clinch the three-Test series.
“I think there’s an attitude to go 2-0, that’s what we’ve been talking about in the week.
“That’s what Brian O’Driscoll said, you have to take that opportunity. We’re 1-0 up and we could put Australia to bed tomorrow night, that’s our mindset.
“If you dare to dream it turns into a nightmare because if you were to think about what you’re going to create or what possibly is in the future, that doesn’t happen.”
Howley defended the call to make five changes to a winning team for today’s crucial game. “I think there’s an old adage about not changing a winning team but over the last six weeks we’ve spoken about picking the best players available,” he said.
“We’ve rested players when we’ve needed to and the selection in some situations is tough, but we want to pick the best team available to take on Australia and I think we’ve done that.” – Sapa-AFP