[1]Former top-ranked players Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin won to set up a fourth-round meeting at Wimbledon, as John Isner lost one day after winning the longest match in tennis history.
Clijsters, playing at Wimbledon for the first time since 2006, beat Russia’s Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-3, while Henin, a semifinalist in her most-recent appearance in 2007, defeated Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-1, 6-4. The Belgians will face each other in three days.
Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands beat Isner 6-0, 6-3, 6- 2 in their second-round match. Isner on Thursday completed a first-round meeting with Nicolas Mahut of France that lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes over three days.
Five-time champion Venus Williams of the U.S. beat Alisa Kleybanova of Russia 6-4, 6-2. Third-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia won 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 over Spaniard Albert Montanes and Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion and No. 15 seed, beat Gael Monfils of France 6-3, 8-6 (11-9), 6-4.
France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu beat No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in five sets in a second-round matchup.
No. 4 Jelena Jankovic and No. 11 Marion Bartoli both advanced in the women’s draw in straight sets. No. 21 Vera Zvonareva of Russia beat 15th-seeded Belgian Yania Wickmayer 6- 4, 6-2.
Clijsters and Henin both retired from the sport before making comebacks. Neither has won a Wimbledon title. They’ve played 24 times, with each winning 12. Clijsters won the U.S. Open for the second time in only the third tournament of her return last year. Henin is a seven-time Grand Slam winner and won their only Wimbledon meeting in the 2006 semifinals. —AFP
Links:
[1] http://103.241.136.51/sp06262jpg-194