TENNIS:There is an apocryphal tale relating back to the days when Jimmy Connors was one of the game's top players. New Yorker and 1977 Australian Open champion Vitas Gerulaitis used regularly meet the American in the quarter-finals or semi-finals of the tour events and Grand Slams and inevitably that was the American's exit point.
All he had to do was look at the draw, see he was likely to face Connors in the semi-final and know that was his departure lounge. Finally after years of being beaten, Gerulaitis defeats his rival, strides into the press conference and declares: "Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row."
Mikhail Youzhny knows the feeling, that Gerulaitis feeling. The Russian 13th seed fell 7-6 6-4 6-4 to top seed Roger Federer. Youzhny and Federer's lives seem to cross in a similar way to that of Gerulaitis and Connors. Yesterday he lost for the 10th straight time to the Swiss player.
"It's tough," said the Russian. "You lose 10 times. You never know what happens in the future."
Typically, Federer's straight sets win handed him another landmark in tennis history. His passage to the quarter-final equalled the longest streak of Grand Slam matches won in the Open era without losing a set and equalled the record of John McEnroe.
The American won 11 Grand Slam matches in straight sets from the second round at 1984 Wimbledon through to the 1984 US Open quarter-finals.
Federer has not dropped a set since the first round of this year's Australian Open, which obviously he won.
The world number one since February 2004 was challenged by the talented Russian in the first set, which he won on a tiebreak. Taking a 5-0 lead there, he typically played the big points well and in the end pocketed the set too easily for Youzhny's liking.
But it was that ability that tilted the match on to Federer's lap. Youzhny converted two break points out of eight won, while Federer converted four break points out of eight won. Voila.
The win pushes the number one up against Spain's, Tommy Robredo, who defeated the Italian 29th seed, Filippe Volandri, 6-2 7-5 6-1. The prospect of meeting Federer did not unduly alarm Robredo but he realises that considerable thought is required.
The prospect of who he met next was obviously more pressing than who he had just beaten.
"I just need to have lunch," said the sweating Spaniard. "Then I will think about the match against Federer. I am playing against the best player in the world and I will have to think about my game plan. I mean I just want to make sure that he doubts. I will pull out all the stops to achieve that objective."
The winner of that match will play either ninth seeded Guillermo Canas, or fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko. Canas came back from a drug ban in September 2005, having served 15 months. On return he was ranked outside the top 500.
