Rafael Nadal ended Roger Federer’s five-year reign as king of Wimbledon with a 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7 victory in one of the most dramatic finals seen at the All England Club. The 22-year-old Nadal survived an incredible Federer fightback to become the first Spaniard to win the grasscourt grand slam since Manuel Santana in 1966. He is also the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.

After two rain interruptions the players returned to court for a third time with light fading fast and in a nerve-shredding finale the contest ended with Nadal collapsing to the dusty baseline after a Federer forehand struck the net. Read the rest of this entry »

Venus Williams beat her younger sister Serena 7-5 6-4 to win her fifth Wimbledon trophy and seventh Grand Slam title in a dramatic final. Williams, who successfully defended the title for the second time in her career to claim her third Wimbledon trophy in four years, said she had mixed feelings about the victory.

“My first job is big sister and I take that very seriously,” the 28-year-old Venus said after wrapping up the win in one hour and 51 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

Twice former champion Serena Williams took one step closer to another Wimbledon final against her sister Venus, winning through to the last four with an easy 6-4 6-0 victory over Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska. Serena, who defeated Agnieszka’s younger sister Urszula in the second round, dashed the Polish family’s Wimbledon hopes again on centre court with a perfectly-honed power game.

The sixth seed, who like Venus has concentrated her year on peaking for Wimbledon, dropped service once in the first set but constantly unsettled the 19-year-old and never let her find her rhythm.

Serena, who has yet to drop a set at Wimbledon this year, joined Venus in the semi-finals by clinching the second set with consummate ease. Read the rest of this entry »

World number one Ana Ivanovic’s luck finally ran out at Wimbledon when she was toppled 6-1 6-4 in the third round by China’s Zheng Jie. Forty-eight hours after the Serb saved two match points against Nathalie Dechy, the second with the help of a netcord, she suffered an astonishing meltdown on Court One.

The French Open champion struggled to keep the ball in play as she either sprayed errors off the court or scooped shots into the net with alarming regularity. Read the rest of this entry »

Defending champion Roger Federer raced to a comprehensive three-set win over Frenchman Marc Gicquel to continue his breezy progress. Federer completely dominated the match after surprisingly dropping his opening service game of the match, breaking Gicquel six times on the way to a 6-3 6-3 6-1 victory in just 81 minutes.

The world number one needs four more victories next week to set a modern era record of six men’s titles in a row. He captured the first set with a booming ace and the second, after two breaks of serve, with a screaming forehand winner.

With the 53rd-ranked Gicquel completely out of his depth, the Swiss master sailed through the third with two breaks to claim his 62nd grasscourt victory in a row. Read the rest of this entry »