Tennis Wimbledon championships ... Week TwoAfter a week of furious boiling, the seeds remain vigorous and able. Of the half dozen names most would have picked at the beginning of the tournament as possible champions, all have percolated through to the second week, none of them remotely fire damaged.
If anything, their sense of belonging at the top of the bean hill has been reinforced. Traditionally, the fourth round, which determines who goes through to the quarter-finals, illustrates the difference between promise and reality.
The Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, the Belgians, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport and even Mary Pierce, making a brave climb back from obscurity, which will surely end when she meets third seed Henin-Hardenne in her next match, appear formidable.
Their measure thus far is how effectively they have been "beating-up" on opponents and the indications are their bullying instincts are rampant.
They are joined by a 16-year-old Russian living in Florida, Maria Sharapova, a finalist at last year's junior Australian Open. Sharapova, who lists the Pippi Longstocking series as her favourite reading material, denied Jelena Dokic any more interest in the singles, beating her 6-4, 6-4.
When Dokic was Sharapova's age, she qualified for Wimbledon, knocked out world number one Martina Hingis and twinkled her way to the quarter-finals. It is difficult to believe that Dokic, with her family troubles and constant switching of allegiances, is still only 20.
But Sharapova, with her obvious physical and mental strength, has the bearing of a champion. When she was 15 she was on Teen Peoples' list of 20 teens that will change the world.
In Sport magazine, she was named as one of 21 athletes to watch for in the 21st century. "I'm 16 and I'm in the fourth round of Wimbledon. How odd is that?", asked the only wild card entry left in the draw. Not very odd for those who had watched her.
Sharapova faces another Russian, the 33-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, in the next round in a match that is not expected to upset her charge. She has already beaten the 11th seed, the 21st seed and the heralded young American, Ashley Harkleroad, who candidly admitted "her clock had been cleaned". And it was, 6-2, 6-1. There are five Russian players from 16 still in the draw and five Americans.
"They're (Russians) really strong, really tough. They work that extra hour at the end of the day. If someone has talent, they know they can achieve it by just working hard and that's what they do," Sharapova said of her compatriots.
The Sharapova phenomenon aside, all eight matches are on court today. The older Williams sister, Venus, meets Vera Zvonareva, with Serena facing another impressive Russian, Elena Dementieva. Clijsters ought to continue her fizzing run at the bottom half of the draw, against Ai Sugiyama, although the Japanese players goes into the match with a career 3-3 head-to-head showing.
Sugiyama has won two of their last three matches. Henin-Hardenne's games so far suggest Pierce will have to find another gear to survive. Having already gone up one level, at least two more will be required from the former French Open winner if she is to worry this season's Roland Garros champion.
Capriati, who required constant attention from a physiotherapist during her match against Akiko Morigami, has dismissed any inferences that it is an injury that could wreck her chances today against the 10th-seed, Anastasia Myskina.
"The shoulder is nothing serious. Just had a little kink there, wanted to get it out. I mean, that's what the trainers are for. It had nothing to do with the way I was playing, with the way the scores were going. She was just tougher than all the other opponents I've played so far."
Capriati's serve was broken in the second set once but she immediately broke back to win the match 6-4, 6-4. Capriati might have spoken for all the top seeds when she spoke of the second week in any grand slam.
"Maybe what happens is the first week is too easy and then when it comes time to having a really tough match, I'm kind of not match tough and not used to hitting so many balls in the rallies, so I almost lose the sharpness a bit."
Capriati has beaten Myskina twice before, most recently last year, on clay, at Charleston, USA.
