Monday, June 30, 2008


Sports
Tennis
The Championships Wimbledon
Tamarine makes a mark

Afp, London


Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn clenches her fist after beating Serbian Jelena Jankovic in the pre-quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Club in London yesterday. Photo: AFPTamarine Tanasugarn became the first Thai to reach a Grand Slam quar-terfinal as she sent Serb second seed Jelena Jankovic crashing out of Wimbledon on Monday.Tamarine, ranked 60, took advantage of Jankovic's struggles with a knee injury to overpower the world number three and claim an historic 6-3, 6-2 fourth round victory.The 31-year-old, who had appeared in the last 16 of Grand Slam eight times without success, will now face defending champion Venus Williams in the last eight.Venus survived her trip to Wimbledon's notorious court number two.But the defending champion emerged from the famous 'graveyard of champions' fuming over Wimbledon organisers' decision to banish her from the tournament's major show courts, which she clearly regarded as a major snub for a player gunning for her fifth singles title at the All England Club.Venus moved a step closer to that objective by beating fast-rising Russian teenager Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 6-3, setting up a quarterfinal meeting with Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, who upset Serbian second seed Jankovic.Two-time champion Serena Williams has beaten Bethany Mattekto to advance to the quarterfinals.Serena swept past her fellow American 6-3, 6-3, immediately after her sister Venus was also triumphant.Zheng Jie reached her first quarterfinal as the Chinese wildcard's Wimbledon fairytale continued with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 victory over Hungarian 15th seed Agnes Szavay.Zheng had stunned top seed Ana Ivanovic in the last round and the world number 133 showed that was no fluke by demolishing Szavay in an hour and 21 minutes in the fourth round.Meanwhile, Roger Federer shattered father-to-be Lleyton Hewitt's Wimbledon hopes with a 7-6 (9/7), 6-2, 6-4 victory which took the five-time champion into the quarterfinals.Federer, bidding to become the first man to win six successive titles, racked up his 63rd successive grasscourt victory and will take Croatia's Mario Ancic for a semifinal place.Unseeded Croatian Ancic came back from two sets down to beat Spanish 22nd seed Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11 to reach the
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