Tennis: Yesterday 20-year-old Andy Roddick filled Centre Court with bundles of oohs and aahs. Ooh - forehand winner. Aah - 135 m.p.h. unreturnable serve. Roddick did not threaten the world record speed for serving, which he holds with Greg Rusedski, of 149 m.p.h., but the distorted air rippling around the stadium in the wake of his ball told the crowd enough about what was going on either side of the net. Johnny Watterson reports from Wimbledon
A straight sets 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Spain's Tommy Robredo takes Roddick into his first Wimbledon round of 16. More importantly, the Omaha, USA, native is beginning to believe he has championship-winning form.
"You know, I'm starting to have a little bit more confidence in my abilities on a day-to-day basis. The first one (Grand Slam) is always toughest to get. The biggest fear is the fear of the unknown. But I'm definitely here to try to win this tournament and not just go round-by-round."
The match was impressive in volume and power and Robredo mixed it up enough for Roddick to have to tough it out for all three sets. Small margins decided each. Winning 80 per cent of his first serves was obviously significant but Roddick needed a tie-break for the first and just one break in the second to put Robredo in a deep hole.
By that stage a comeback was unlikely and after one loose game in the third game of the third set, Roddick got his chance, taking a love-40 lead and breaking serve as a Robredo volley caught the net cord and dropped out.
"I know I'm going to get my points on my serves," he said. "I'm then just looking to slam out a point or two on their serves."
The last time Roddick had a hot streak of serving like he has had over the last three matches was two years ago in Houston when he was broken in his 50th game.
"I think in Toronto last year I might have gotten broken once or twice going into the final. It's not every tournament for sure," he said.
Roddick now faces Paradorn Srichaphan, who turned over the youngest player in the draw, 17-year-old Rafael Nadal. Widely tipped to be a world number one of the future, the Spaniard hit just over half as many winners as his opponent (24 to 41) and dropped his serve six times over the two-hour match.
Also out of the competition is the 6ft 10ins Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who defeated the top seed, Lleyton Hewitt, in the first round. It is not often that a match between two players with a combined ranking close to 250 whets appetites but when their combined height is three inches over 13 feet, it gives the match a certain voyeuristic charm.
Karlovic, a 500-1 bet at the beginning of the competition, departs having had a run further than he could ever have imagined, as 6ft 5ins Max Mirnyi, the proud holder of the nickname "The Beast of Belarus", moves on to the fourth round after a four-set win, two of them on tiebreaks.
The last match on Centre Court, which was rain-delayed, allowed Roger Federer display a breathless range of skills against American Mardy Fish. In such company Fish couldn't swim. He lost the first two sets 6-3, 6-1 to one of the players hotly tipped by many to carry off the trophy this year and then the rain arrived. Fish finally sank in the fourth set 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.
