Tennis/Wimbledon round-up:Champion Amelie Mauresmo's Wimbledon reign ended in a bizarre fourth round encounter on Tuesday when she was upset 7-6 4-6 6-1 by Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova.
It was left to the lesser-known Marion Bartoli to keep French hopes alive in the women's draw when she came from behind to beat third seed Jelena Jankovic 3-6 7-5 6-3.
In a raft of women's fourth round matches postponed on Monday because of the rain there were mixed fortunes for the Russians. Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, complete with a new-look hairdo, beat Austrian 16-year-old Tamira Paszek 6-3 6-2 but Nadia Petrova lost to Serbian sixth seed Ana Ivanovic.
The battle of the former champions between second seed Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams was shunted out to Court Three as organisers tried to get back on schedule. A violent thunderstorm had them running for cover after three points, however.
One day after a hobbling Serena Williams screamed, cried and snarled her way to a remarkable fourth round victory over Daniela Hantuchova, Mauresmo folded in startling fashion.
After three rain interruptions, the red mist had already descended by the time she thrashed a ball to the far flung corners of the All England Club after yet another fluffed volley at the start of the final game.
She had wasted three set points in the first-set tiebreak and despite hanging on to level the match she remained badly out of sorts against the hungry Czech.
"Everything went wrong today," said Mauresmo, who served 14 double faults. "It was a shitty match."
Umpire Kim Craven's day was not much better. At the start of the second set he forgot who was serving and from what end and eventually had to be helped out by a ballboy.
At least Vaidisova kept her wits about her to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time where she will meet French Open runner-up Ivanovic.
"I'm not a huge fan of grass but I came out hitting and fighting for every point," she said.
The terrible weather meant the bottom half of the men's draw still had several uncompleted third round matches on Tuesday.
Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, eventually dislodged Argentine Guillermo Canas 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 after they had been one set apiece overnight. Nikolay Davydenko, the Russian sixth seed, also finished off Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-3 7-5 6-3.
Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero was one step ahead.
The 20th seed seized his chance to reach the quarter-finals here
for the first time with a 7-5 6-3 7-6 defeat of Janko Tipsarevic of
Serbia.
The former world number one will now face Roger Federer, who
has serenely sat out the last few rain-lashed days after being
handed a walkover by the injured Tommy Haas.