 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jul 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jul 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jul 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jul 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 03 Jul 2006 | |
|
| 05 Jul 2006 - Wimbledon - Eleanor Preston | |
| Roshardt stays on Swiss roll at Wimbledon |
Switzerland’s Robin Roshardt is Roger Federer’s biggest fan and is therefore well aware of the Swiss success story at Wimbledon. Wednesday saw him make his own mark on the Championships by beating third seed and last year’s ITF World Junior World Champion Donald Young 6-4, 7-6 to earn a place in the quarter-finals of the boys’ competition.
“Donald is tough to play, just because he’s a lefty and he’s got an unusual game,” said Roshardt, who plays the Czech Republic’s Michal Konecny in the last eight. “I played pretty good today, I served well and I fought well when I was down in the second set tiebreaker. I played aggressively when I needed to and I always believed in myself.”
Roshardt, seeded 15th, drew inspiration from his previous win over Young at last year’s Orange Bowl tournament. “I knew I could beat him and I wasn’t afraid of him,” said Roshardt. “I had a tough one but when you want to win the tournament you have to beat everybody.”
Roshardt’s task was made harder by the warm, sultry conditions, which saw misty rain hang heavy in the air and constantly threaten to interrupt play. Had Roshardt lost the second set tiebreak he would have found himself in a long rain delay and faced the possible loss of momentum against an experienced player. “It’s very humid here, like playing in Asia or something. It was so hot out there and towards the end I knew it was going to rain because the sky suddenly went very, very black,” said Roshardt. “I’m so glad I won that tiebreaker.”
Roshardt loves Wimbledon, not least because Federer, his favourite player, has won the men’s title for the last three years. Federer, incidentally, also won the boys’ title in 1998. “It’s by far the best tournament in the world,” he said. “I love everything about it. I really like to play on grass but I also like the traditions and the history. It’s definitely a good tournament for the Swiss and I really hope Federer wins it again.”
Top seed Thiemo DeBakker of the Netherlands had to dig deep for his third round win over Emiliano Massa, eventually beating the Argentinean 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final against Artur Chernov of Russia, who is seeded twelfth. On the other side of the draw, Luka Belic of Croatia will take on Pavel Chekhov of Russia and Marcin Gawron of Poland plays Nikola Mektic, also from Croatia.
Great Britain’s Naomi Cavaday became the first British girl to make the quarter-finals at Wimbledon since 2001 by beating Kristina Kucova of Slovakia 6-3, 7-6. Cavaday, who needed a wildcard to get into the main draw of the juniors, will take on Urszula Radwanska of Poland in her first junior grand slam quarter-final.
“I played her once before, indoor hard, $10,000. I lost 7-5, 7-6, something like that. It was quite close,” said Cavaday. “She's a very good player. She's gonna keep the pressure on, you know, no matter what. She's a fighter, she wins a lot of matches. It's gonna be interesting, but I'm up for it. Making the quarter-finals is massive just for mainly the development of my game because that's what I'm focusing on. I'm putting myself out there and giving every match my best shot against these top players. I realize I can compete with these players; I can beat them as I have done. I'm through to the quarterfinals which is another match, another experience at Wimbledon. It's great.”
Fourth seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki will take on Ayumi Morita of Japan in the quarter-finals while on the opposite side of the draw, Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia takes on Russian third seed Alisa Kleybanova and Tamira Paszek of Austria plays Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru.
^ Back to Top
|
