Daniela Hantuchova fell at the hands of Justine Henin-Hardenne in the fourth round of Wimbledon, 3-6, 1-6, in an hour and five minutes. With her loss to Henin-Hardenne, Hantuchova is 2-3 in head-to-head career wins against Henin-Hardenne.

The match statistics show that Hantuchova came second to Henin-Hardenne, with first serve percentage of just 62 percent compared with Henin-Hardenne’s 64 percent, unforced errors of 16 to just 13 unforced errors from Henin-Hardenne’s. Hantuchova’s fourth round finish in this year’s edition of Wimbledon is a round higher than her 2004 and 2005 editions, when she reached the third round on both occasions, although the all-time highest round she has reached in Wimbledon is the quarterfinal round during the year 2002.

In the jittery first set, Daniela couldn’t find any answer to Henin-Hardenne’s variety of shots. With Henin-Hardenne leading at 4-1, it looked like Henin-Hardenne was in for a swift win of the first set. However, Hantuchova managed to win two games before Henin-Hardenne wrapped up the first set, 6-3, in thirty-five minutes.

Hantuchova sparked a comeback in the second set when she went 40 up on Henin-Hardenne’s serve, only to falter and let Henin-Hardenne hold her serve. Henin-Hardenne would win the next three games to lead again at 4-1, but in the fifth game of the second set, Hantuchova would take the game only to see Henin-Hardenne win the next two games to seal the set, 6-1, and
the match 6-3, 6-1.

Elena Dementieva advanced to her first ever quarterfinals of The Championships from Wimbledon, by routing world number 62 Shenay Perry from the USA.

Dementieva was impeccable in disposing of the last American player in the draw, both in the men’s and women’s draws. Making good use of her tremendous and explosvie power off the ground, Dementieva posted a 6-2, 6-0 win, by far the easiest of the tournament up to this stage for her. After battling through almost two hours versus Mirza, another three with Meghann Shaughnessy and another hour and three quarters versus Likhovtseva, this 54 minute victory was certainly a bless for Dementieva, who will need all the strenghts she can gather to face Maria Sharapova in the next round of The Championships.

These two blonde towers will square off for the 6th time with Sharapova leading the series 4-1. In their only prior match on grass, and also first clash between them ever, Sharapova came away with the vicotry in three sets in Birmingham back in 2003. Later that year Dementieva would gain revenge in Shanghai en route to her third career title. Their last meeting came earlier this year in Indian Wells, when Sharapova defeated the older blonde in straigh sets in the final round, after Elena had beaten Justine Henin-Hardenne in the semis.

This win also marks the first time since the 2005 US Open that Dementieva reaches the 4th round or better of a grand slam, after having disappointing losses in both the Australian Open and Roland Garros. It is also the first time Elena Dementieva reached the last 16 at Wimbledon. Now, the only slam where she has yet to reach this stage is the Australian Open.

For American tennis this was a disastrous day. It marked the first time since 1911 that the latter stages of Wimbledon won’t feature the presence of an American, either male or female.

On other results for day 7 of The Championships, Amelie Mauresmo defeated serbian Ana Ivanovic; Anastasia Myskina sent another Serbian packing, this being the conqueror of Venus Williams, Jelena Jankovic in straight sets. 2004 champion Maria Sharapova needed three sets to put away a brave challenge from Flavia Pennetta. In the upset of the day, Na Li defeated big serving Nicole Vaidisova in a comeback victory after the loss of the first set. Also making headlines is Severine Bremond, who upset Ai Sugiyama in two sets and is for the first time featuring the last 8 in a grand slam. Bremond made headlines earlier in the tournament after upsetting Patty Schnyder in the second round.

On doubles action Dementieva/Pennetta brushed aside the young team of Mirza/Krajicek in two sets. Also back to the great results is the team composed by the successful team of Ruano Pascual/Suarez, who after injuries affecting Suarez, were out for many months. The Spanish/Argentinian pair beat top seeds Raymond/Stosur by 6-4 and 6-4. Number 2 seeds Black/Stubbs also advanced.

Daniela Hantuchova advanced into the fourth round of Wimbledon after trouncing twenty-first seed Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the third round, 6-4, 7-6(7-2). Hantuchova has improved her career head-to-head wins to 5-0 with this win.

With a first serve percentage of 73 percent, against Srebotnik’s 66 percent, 10 aces versus Srebotnik’s 7 aces, only 1 double fault compared with Srebotnik’s 5, and unforced errors of 12 against Srebotnik’s 16, Hantuchova wrapped up the match in one hour and forty one minutes.

The first set started out brilliantly, breaking Srebotnik’s serve occasionally. Though Srebotnik gave a tough fight at one point, hitting winners after winners, Hantuchova was there to match Srebotnik shot by shot. Hantuchova eventually won the first set in forty-three minutes.

In the second set, both players traded breaks until the set got into a tiebreaker. It was a matter of consistency that saw Hantuchova take the tiebreaker, 7-2, the second set, 7-6, and the match, 6-2, 7-6(7-2).

Asked for her thought on her next opponent, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Hantuchova replied, “You know, I’m just really, really happy to be in the second week. Definitely a match that I really look forward to, to play. You know, she’s a great champion. I have a lot of respect for the way she plays, so it’s going to be an exciting match for me, and I can’t wait to be out there again.” Hantuchova and Henin-Hardenne are tied at 2-2 in their career head-to-head wins.

Jelena Jankovic became the dark horse of Venus Williams in this year’s edition of The Championships sending the American defending champion back home earlier than expected in a tough three set battle.

During the 57 minute first set players traded breaks once only, eventually heading to a tiebreak, but not before Williams failign to convert on a set point at 5-4, on Jankovic’s serve. In the tiebreak the Serbian just edged Willaims winning it 10-8.

In the second set Williams reduced her unforced errors count gaingin some practical results with it as she leveled the match at one set a piece by winning the second set 6-4.

However, and in spite of winning a 2-0 lead in the final set, Williams was tormented again by her wild game and in the 4th game game was back at the starting stage at 2 all. From there on Jankovic raced to a 5-3 lead. Venus would still steal a game but on her 4th match point Jelena got yet another free point from Venus as the American crashed a forehand into the net.

After winning the match Jankovic could barely believe herself and stated: “I’m so excited I won this match,”. “I just wanted to go out on the court and give my maximum and just enjoy the play. At the end, I was just so nervous. It felt like the racquet was 30 pounds. It was just such a strange feeling. But I was telling myself just to hang in there and hopefully I will pull it out.”
“It’s not like you’ll beat a defending champion, a champion like Venus, every day. I mean, it’s a huge win.”

Venus was particularly upbeat but still acknowledged she was disappointed with her defeat: “I had opportunities but unfortunately she played some good tennis,” Williams stated. “I’ll keep working hard ’cause I feel very positive about my game. Will it be hard to put this behind me? I hate losing, obviously; I’m used to winning, especially here. But as long as I’m healthy, I’ll be around next year, and for the next tournament.”

Jankovic also acknowledged she had been losign interest in tennis due to her losing streak in the beginnign of the year: “There came a moment when I thought I really don’t enjoy to play tennis any more,” said Jankovic, who has been busy with University studies. “But I’ve really changed my thinking. After this bad period I learned a lot. It was a big experience for me, a learning experience. I just became stronger as a player and as a person as well.”

As for Williams loss it marks the first time this millenium and century that the finals of The Championships won’t feature at least one of the Williams sisters, ending a traditon that has bee lasting for 6 years now.

Anastasia Myskina reached the 4th round at Wimbledon with a straight sets, 6-3 6-4 win over Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues on Saturday. The Russian suffered from breathing problems throughout the whole match but still managed to play on a decent level. She will meet either Venus Williams or Jelena Jankovic next.

For the very first time at this year´s Wimbledon Nastya had a quite rough start into the match against Medina Garrigues when she got quickly broken. However Nastya fought back and managed not only to level the score but also ran away with consecutive games to take the first set 6-3 on her second setpoint when Medina Garrigues hit a forehand wide.

Nastya had problems hitting the forehand and did not appear as fast as in her last matches at SW19. She often tried to hit dangerous shots in an attempt to keep the rallies as short as possible. The trainer and a medical doctor were called at the end of set one for Nastya and yet again it seemed that the Russian was suffering from respiratory problems, something we have seen several times in the past, mainly at outside tourneys. There is no information about the specific problem yet, however the BBC commentators predicted it could be asthma or a hayfever attack since she got better after taking a inhaler but there are no confirmation yet. Maybe we get some news later the day.

It appeared that Medina Garrigues suffered as much as Nastya in the break as the Spaniard came back on court without any focuse. The Russian on the other side came out firing winners all over the place with a game that was similar to that one from the previous rounds. She broke the Spaniard to love and then won her service game without a loss of points again. Nastya continued to play awesome tennis leaving her opponent stunned with a 4-0 lead.

Medina Garrigues finally got an board when she converted her gamepoint. Nastya however was not bothered as she won her service game to go up 5-1. After missing out on two matchpoints on the Spaniard´s serve in the following game, the Russian started to struggle a bit. Serving for the match with new balls, Nastya got broken on the third breakpoint when Medina Garrigues hit a winning passing shot at the net. After that Medina Garrigues held serve and looked determined to level the score when Nastya started her second attempt to serve out for the match at 5-4.

Nastya managed to set up her third matchpoint by hitting a serve which could not be returned properly by the Spaniard. The Russian finally converted her chance when her opponent hit a forehand wide to win 6-3 6-4.

Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic will meet later day. The winner is going to play Nastya in the fourth round.

Also playing later are Nastya and Elena Likhovtseva, they are meeting Carly Gullickson and Bryanna Stewart on Court 18.