Australians Depart Wimbledon And Other Results And News Of Wimbledon

Bernard Tomic, Lleyton Hewitt and Matthew Ebden The Three Australians Has Departed From Wimbledon Following Their Defeats From Opposition.

Bernard Tomic 

David Goffin Beat Bernard Tomic 

The defeats follow the previous night's loss by Marinko Matosevic and mean the second round at the All England Club will be without any male Australian players for the first time since 1938.Samantha Stosur remains the only Australian left in the singles draw.Tomic, seeded 20th, went down to Belgian wildcard David Goffin 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, and admitted afterwards he had "slacked off a bit" in recent times.Later, Hewitt - who was also a wildcard - was beaten by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.Tomic, the 20th seed and a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year, arrived at the All England Club in the midst of a woeful run which had seen him fail to get past the second round in 11 of his last 12 tournaments.That dispiriting sequence included withdrawing from the Wimbledon warm-up in Halle with a stomach virus, then losing in the first round at Eastbourne last week.The 19-year-old's misery showed no signs of relenting on court two as he failed to emulate last year's impressive run, when he shocked stars Robin Soderling and Nikolay Davydenko en route to becoming the youngest player since Boris Becker in 1986 to reach the last eight.Tomic won the first set against Goffin but after that the match quickly slipped away and the Australian took out his frustrations on his equipment, destroying two racquets.He was later booed off the court.Bernard Tomic Said"I'm not normally like that, but it's a good way to get relief when you smash a racquet"."I don't normally do it and it's not like I'll be continuing to do it."Explaining his loss to Wimbledon debutant Goffin, Tomic told a news conference he has the talent but he has not been working hard enough."To have talent is one thing, it's huge for any sport," 20th seed Tomic said."But I have sort of slacked off a little bit and look what it's costing me. Last eight, nine weeks I'm losing a lot of first, second rounds. So it's not my quality of tennis."My quality of tennis should be getting me to a lot of semi-finals, finals at tournaments or even winning, but lack of concentration, not working hard, it costs you."Goffin debuted at Wimbledon inspired by his performance at Roland Garros. The Belgian reached the fourth round in Paris as a lucky loser."Well, look, he's 21. I'm 18, 19. I've gotten into the top 30," Tomic said. "It's different. He has time and he's going to obviously be a top-30 player. He has great groundstrokes."But I think what I've lacked the last few weeks is the consistency and it's tough to get."Against Goffin, Tomic secured an early break that settled the first set with the minimum fuss.But there were still too many signs of Tomic's inconsistency in the second set as he dropped serve twice either side of a break of his own.That was enough for Goffin to level the match and he kept the pressure on Tomic with another break in the first game of the third set.With Goffin's serve holding up well, Tomic was starting to look increasingly frustrated as the Belgian moved two sets to one ahead.Tomic's angst only increased in the fourth set as Goffin, who took a set off Roger Federer before losing to 16-time Grand Slam champion in Paris, landed another blow with an early break.That was enough to shatter Tomic's spirit for good and Goffin was soon celebrating his first ever win on grass.Tomic was booed off after smashing two racquets during the match, but he says his behaviour was uncharacteristic."I'm not normally like that but it's a good way to get relief when you smash a raquet. I don't normally do it and it's not like I'll be continuing to do it."

Hewitt

Tsonga Beat Hewitt

Tsonga Out-Busted Hewitt By  6-3, 6-4, 6-4 .Former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt, reduced to being a wildcard at the tournament he won 10 years ago, could never match the firepower of number five seed Tsonga.He said it was a bad day for the Australian men. Matthew Ebden also bowed out following a 1-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 loss to France's Benoit Paire."There's a lot of different reasons it could have been," Hewitt told reporters."Draws, matchups, whatever. But at least three of us, the three guys that played today, I know we could have beaten a lot of guys that are still going in the tournament. That's just how it falls."

Hewitt empathised with Tomic who had done so well at Wimbledon last year."It's tough I think that sort of next year after you sort of break through to keep it up and continue doing it," he said."Everybody obviously had massive expectations for him to do well. This is his best surface."Training-wise I don't know what he's been doing. I wouldn't have a clue. But obviously he's had a frustrating last couple of weeks."Both Tomic and Hewitt will be back at Wimbledon to represent Australia in the Olympics.In the women's draw Queensland teenager Ashleigh Barty lost 6-2, 6-4 to Italian 21st seed Roberta Vinci in her first year in the women's singles.Barty was the 2011 Wimbledon junior girls champion and was not too despondent by the loss."I've still got a good record here so I'm looking to improve and come back," Barty said.Casey Dellacqua also lost 6-2, 6-4 when she went up against ninth seed Marion Bartoli of France.Stosur, the only remaining Australian in the singles, takes on Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands at 10pm Wednesday night (AEST).

Matthew Ebden

Benoit Paire Beat Matthew Ebden

Ebden lost 6-1 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 to 55-ranked Frenchman Benoit Paire, while Tomic wasted a strong early start to go down to 70-ranked Belgian David Goffin 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.Marinko Matosevic, ranked 72 and Australia's second-highest rated player after Tomic, had earlier complained that a cold or flu had left him feeling dreadful during his lacklustre and erratic effort against Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse, who is ranked three spots lower but had little trouble dismissing him 6-2 6-2 7-5.

THE OTHER NEWS ( WIMBLEDON ) THAT WERE NOT POSTED YESTERDAY

Nole

Novak DJOKOVIC b. Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

Novak Djokovic wins the second round by closing the program of the Centre Court with a 6-4 triple within two hours of play against Ryan Harrison, an American born in 1992 and already number 48 ranking in the ATP tennis brilliant and diversified by the holder and world leader with a set against a bold break for Harrison, who did not go over 6 break points at 3-3 Nole canceled by the second set. Djokovic awaits the opponent's third-round match interrupted by darkness on the All England Lawn Tennis Radek Stepanek in the U.S. and Benjamin Becker.

Janko Tipsarevic

Janko Tipsarevic b. Ryan Sweeting 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2

The top-seeded No. 8, Janko Tipsarevic, defeated the American Ryan Sweeting, No. 130 ATP, and qualifies for the third round of Wimbledon where he will face the winner between Youzhny and Cervantes. First two sets with the same script and score, but the opposite outcome: no one ever goes to benefits with brisk innings, but before Tipsarevic Sweeting and then tear the last service game to the opponent to close the surroundings. There is another analogy between the third and fourth set, but this time only in favor of Tipsarevic, ripping the cover 1-1 service to the opponent of the last fractions and does not lose his turn at bat for close the meeting. Sweeting plays a match, and generous with a big serve (16 aces with 70% of points on the first), but the Serbian is another category.

Stanislas Wawrinka Unlucky

Jurgen Melzer b. Stanislas Wawrinka 3-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4, 8-6

Falls another head of the series. Switzerland's Wawrinka, seeded 25, has to give five-set Austrian Melzer in the continuation of the first round match interrupted by rain yesterday. The Austrian's time to open the board: for him the next round slovak Lacko.

OTHER RESULTS 

 David Ferrer Beat  German Brown 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. 

Ernests Gulbis, Beat  t. Jerzy Janowicz: 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 9-7  

 M.Raonic b. S.Giraldo 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; 

L. Kubot b. T.Ito 7-6, 6-3, 6-3; 

J.Monaco b. J.Chardy 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6

,

 F. Mayer b. P. Petzschner 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4;

 B. Phau b. W. Odesnik 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4;

 I. Karlovic b. D.Sela 6-4, 6-4, 7-6; 

Benneteau b. M. Russell 7-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5; 

M. Youzhny b. I. Cervantes 6-1, 6-3, 6-4;

 D. Istomin b. I. Andreev 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2; 

N. Almagro b. G. Rufin 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4;

R. Gasquet b. R. Benelmans 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Match Interrupted

It was completed on the All England Club for darkness meetings between Alejandro Falla and Nicolas Mahut (6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 3-3) and between Radek Stepanek and Benjamin Becker on 6 partial -2, 5-6 the second set.

Florent Malouda Suggests That "He Could Leave"

Flourant Malouda may be on his way out of Stamford Bridge after being told that he may move. Suitors are believed to include clubs in Brazil where Malouda's wife hails from

Florent Malouda Has Said That He May Leave Chelsea And Is Interested To Play For Brazilian Club.Malouda has one year left on his contract and has been informed that he can move. The 32-year-old is considering a number of offers including at least one from Brazil where he has already expressed an interest in playing.The French international, who signed for Chelsea for £13m in 2007, has a Brazilian wife and is wanted by Vasco Da Gama where he reunite with his former Lyon team-mate Juninho Pernambucano.Brazilian football is receiving a huge financial boost with money flowing into the game ahead of the 2014 World Cup Finals.It’s believed that Michael Essien is also hoping to leave Chelsea this summer but another midfielder, Meireles, is keen to stay.The Portuguese international was unsettled by the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas and has struggled to command a regular first-team place. He has been linked with a several clubs but would prefer to remain at Stamford Bridge.Chelsea have already released Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Jose Bosingwa, after their contracts expire, and there are expected to be more departures. The future of Daniel Sturridge, for whom Chelsea could command a sizeable fee, remains the most interesting.Drogba has signed for Shanghai Shenhua and both his representatives and Barcelona president Sandro Rosell were quick yesterday to dismiss suggestions that he may be trying to move to Catalan club instead.“Drogba to Barca story complete nonsense. As we told you he joins Shanghai in July,” reported the Sports PR Company, his media representatives, using the social network site Twitter. Drogba agreed to join the Chinese club several months ago and it’s understood that if he attempted to release himself from the deal it would involve significant compensation being paid.Chelsea are in the process of reshaping their squad, having already signed Eden Hazard and Marko Marin although their interest in Hulk has cooled for now. Manager Roberto Di Matteo also has to juggle with players coming back from the European Championships and John Terry’s trial as he plans for next month’s pre-season tour to the United States.It was also announced yesterday that defender David Luiz would be one of the over-age players in Brazil’s squad for the Olympics. Spain are also considering selecting Juan Mata even though he is part of the Euro 2012 squad.

Giroud Signs for Arsenal Over Chelsea

Giroud Signs For Arsenal

French Star Giroud Has Snubbed Chelsea To Join Arsenal For £13 million.Giroud told French newspaper L'Equipe: 'Why did I choose Arsenal rather than Chelsea? Because it is a club I love. And I thought it would be easier for my adaptation.'Arsenal is a great club, the facilities are wonderful, but I feel it is a club that takes big care before signing a player, notably considering human values.'There are French players. There is also Arsene Wenger who let me understand he really wanted me.'Chelsea is very nice, it is a great club, but I am not convinced (coach Roberto) Di Matteo knows who I am.'Giroud also denied he has been signed as a replacement for Robin van Persie, who has been linked with Manchester City and Juventus after putting contract talks on hold.'When you make the decision to join a great club, you know there is already a great forward,' he added.'I know what to expect.'Van Persie is a fantastic player who was outstanding last season.He has been at Arsenal for eight years, I hope I will have time to adapt and improve.'Anyway, I don't go there to take his place.'

1st Semi Final: Spain beat Portugal 4-2 in Penalties reach Final of Euro 2012

Spain Celebrates.

Spain beat Portugal 4-2 in Penalties at Euro 2012 after they played out a 0-0 draw in the first semi-final of Euro 2012, as Joao Moutinho and Bruno Alves missed.Earlier, Cristiano Ronaldo had missed a good chance to put Portugal through in the last minute of normal time while Portugal keeper Rui Patricio made superb saves to deny Jesus Navas and Andres Iniesta in extra-time.The Spaniards had started better, and ought to have gone ahead from their first chance in the ninth minute when Manuel Negredo pulled the ball back for Alvaro Arbeloa to fire over the bar from the edge of the box.Andres Iniesta blazed over from long range a minute later, but Portugal threatened in the 13th minute through Ronaldo, who beat Gerard Pique down the left before crossing towards Nani, with Iker Casillas jumping to make a crucial interception.Paulo Bento's men had clearly wrested the upper hand, suffocating the Spanish midfield and worrying their opponents through the persistent threat of Ronaldo and Nani up front. But Spain still almost contrived the grab the lead against the run of play in the 29th minute, when Xavi's clever ball found Iniesta on the edge of the box,who rolled the ball onto his right foot before floating a shot inches over Rui Patricio's goal.Within two minutes, Portugal had responded with an even better chance, Joao Moutinho's persistence paying off on the edge of the box as he set free Ronaldo to drill a low shot just wide of Casillas left hand post. Portugal's control continued into the second half, with Nani almost picking out the head of Hugo Almeida from a dangerous right wing cross, and it proved enough for Vicente Del Bosque, who replaced Negredo with Fabregas up front.Almeida wasted a good chance in the 58th minute when he fired ambitiously over the Spanish bar instead of picking out Ronaldo or Nani, who were unmarked to his left and right respectively. Belatedly, Spain started to show signs of stirring, Xabi drilling a shot straight at Patricio from long range, but despite beginning to edge possession, chances continued to be few and far between.Ronaldo, still terrorising the Spanish defenders at every opportunity, fired a free-kick just over from 30 yards, but a game that had started brightly drifted into a dull spell in which neither side could serve up much of a threat.Then came a glorious chance for Ronaldo in the last minute of normal time, when a Portuguese counter-attack saw Raul Meireles feed the Real Madrid man who fired over the bar from the left side of the box. The introduction of Pedro lent some urgency to the Spanish attack in extra-time, and his run set up a chance for Iniesta in the seventh minute of the extra half hour, but his low shot was blocked in the box.The Portuguese were plainly tiring, and Spain had an even better chance in the 104th minute, when Jordi Alba's cross found Iniesta in front of goal but Patricio managed to flap his shot wide from six yards. Sergio Ramos slammed a long-range free-kick just over the bar before the end of the first period of extra-time, and Ramos was soon in critical action at the other end when cutting out a Fabio Coentrao ball meant for Ronaldo.Substitute Jesus Navas was next to get the chance to break the deadlock in the 22nd minute of extra-time, picking up a ball from Arbeloa in the box and hitting a shot which Patricio did well to save down low. As Spain kept pressing, Pedro briefly burst clear before being caught by Fabio Coentrao, but by then there was a certain inevitability about a match that promised much but offered little heading to penalties.Alonso had the first spot-kick saved by Patricio but Casillas evened things up by saving the first Portuguese penalty from Moutinho. Iniesta, Pepe, Pique, Nani and Sergio Ramos (who calmly copied Andrea Pirlo's 'Panenka' style spot-kick) all put away their penalties before Alves - who had inadvertently stepped up for the previous penalty which was eventually converted by Nani - hit the bar, leaving Fabregas to put Spain through.

Federer,raonic,watson,Pasek,Sharapova,Ivanovic in 3rd round Of Wimbledon

Roger Federer cruised cruised into the third round, while three-time runner-up Andy Roddick notched an opening-round victory Wednesday at Wimbledon.Playing in front of Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, the third-seeded Federer, a six-time Wimbledon champion, gained a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Italian Fabio Fognini on the famed Centre Court. The super Swiss fired 13 aces and needed 1 hour, 14 minutes to swiftly advance to the next round, where the 16-time major champ will meet either 29th-seeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau or American journeyman Michael Russell on the hallowed lawns at the All England Club.The Prince of Wales, who applauded Federer after his Day-3 victory, had not attended Wimbledon since 1970.Federer also kept up his incredible second-round streak, having never lost in that round at a Grand Slam. The last time he failed to reach the third round at a major was when he fell in the opening round at the 2003 French Open.The 30-year-old Federer is in a bid to tie William Renshaw and Pete Sampras' record of seven Wimbledon titles, but his last major championship came in 2010 at the Australian Open.

Andy Roddick snuffed out Jamie Baker's Wimbledon dreams as the American finished off the plucky Scot in three sets.Resuming a set and a break up after a rain delay from yesterday, Roddick clinched the second set of this first-round match with ease before edging a nervy third to run out a 7-6 (7/1) 6-4 7-5 winner.Despite losing in straight sets, Baker, who was diagnosed with a deadly blood disorder four years ago, will take heart from his performance.The 25-year-old was Roddick's equal for much of the encounter, trading powerful blows with the three-time champion to earn five break points that he could not ultimately convert.Baker, ranked 161 places below Roddick, started off confidently when the players returned to Court One this evening, but he could not prevent the American moving 2-0 ahead, the 30-year-old clinching the set with a fine ace.Baker double-faulted but still managed to hold his serve at the start of the deciding set and the Glaswegian then engineered a break point in the fourth game.He was unable to convert it, though, clearing the baseline after a powerful serve from Roddick.The British number three had another two break points in Roddick's following service game but his opponent upped his game and used all his experience to see off the threat to leave the set at 3-3.Roddick moved in for the kill in the ninth game but Baker dug deep and survived three break points, much to the delight of the partisan crowd.Baker offered Roddick a break point in the 11th game after going long with a forehand and the Scot collapsed under pressure, failing with a cheeky drop shot after a long rally.Serving for the match, Roddick showed his class by holding to love to set up a second-round clash with 19th seed Kei Nishikori.

Rising Canadian phenom Raonic needed only 80 seconds to advance on Wednesday at Wimbledon after his match was suspended on Tuesday night.Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., downed Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and will face American Sam Querrey, who eliminated fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil on Tuesday.

Heather Watson  UK's 10 year Wimbledon wait, she admits she is happy  to endure more sleepless nights if it means she can continue her fairytale run at Wimbledon.Watson ended Britain's 10-year wait to have a woman in the third round at Wimbledon as the youngster swept to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Jamie Hampton of the United States on Wednesday.For the first time since Elena Baltacha made it to the last 32 at the All England Club back in 2002, there will be a British female presence late in the first week.It is uncharted terrority for Watson, whose reward for reaching the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time is a clash against third seed Agnieszka Radwanska or Elena Vesnina who put out Venus Williams in the first round.The only downside of the success for Watson has been a lack of sleep caused by anxiety before her matches and a rush of adrenaline afterwards."This whole week I've been sleeping pretty bad. Actually last night wasn't great either. But if I keep playing like this, I don't really mind," she said."As soon as that last point was over, it's kind of like an explosion of happiness and relief."All that tension's gone. I just love when the crowd is so loud at the end. It's an amazing feeling. That's why I play tennis, for those moments."When Watson came off court she wasn't aware of the historic nature of her achievement, but -- with British female success so rare -- it didn't take long before she was made aware by legions of well wishers."I was completely unaware. I don't really look or think about things like that. I just focus on myself and my next match," Watson said."But as soon as I come off the court, everybody seems to let me know all the previous stats. I've been told about five times already."The joyous back-slapping was a stark contrast to Watson's 2011 Wimbledon campaign, which ended with her in tears during a press conference as she struggled to come to terms with an arm injury that allowed Mathilde Johansson to come from a set down to win their first round match."Last year I was feeling really down and right now I'm feeling pretty good," she said."It was tough last year because I was winning the match and then I got injured early in the second set."It was horrible for that to happen in basically my biggest tournament of the year, but it's turned out for the better this year."Watson, ranked 103rd, showed impressive poise on Monday when she demolished the higher ranked Iveta Benesova to become the first British woman to win on Centre Court since Jo Durie in 1985.The 20-year-old picked up where she left off against Hampton with another formidable effort, this time out on Court Two.Watson broke the world number 100 twice en route to taking the first set and held her nerve to save four break points in the second before wiping away tears of joy as she closed out the most important win of her career.

Caroline Wozniacki believes her recent slump and slide in the rankings has more to do with bad luck than bad tennis.The former top-ranked Dane lost two match points in the second set before falling to Tamira Paszek of Austria a 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the first round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.Wozniacki has yet to win a title this year, was eliminated in the third round of the French Open and lost her first match at the grass-court warm-up tournament at Eastbourne.Having ended both 2010 and 2011 as the top-ranked woman — albeit without winning a major — she has fallen to No. 7.

Serbia Ana Ivanovic  savoured an increasingly rare taste of success on Wednesday as the former world number one moved into the Wimbledon second round with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.Ivanovic was once regarded as the female game's brightest young star after winning the 2008 French Open just months after reaching the Australian Open final.But the 24-year-old has been unable to fulfill her vast potential since then and has failed to get past the fourth round in her 16 Grand Slam appearances since that triumph in Paris.She arrived at the All England Club with her ranking down to 14 and little expectation of emulating her 2007 run in the semi-finals.This was a step in the right direction at least as her rain-delayed first round match was finally played to a conclusion on Court 14.Ivanovic has rarely gone deep in any tournament this year and she had to survive plenty of nervous moments before seeing off the world number 51 to set up a second round tie against Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko.The Serb broke in the second game of the opening set but promptly dropped her own serve.After another exchange of breaks, Ivanovic was finally able to take control of an error-strewn set with one final break for a 5-3 lead.Ivanovic's mental fragility resurfaced early in the second set when she allowed Martinez Sanchez to break in the second game.Ivanovic dug deep to break back in the fifth game, but carelessly surrendered her serve again and this time the left hander made her pay by taking the set.The final set was a tense affair with both players scratching around for the momentum that would carry them to victory.It was Ivanovic who finally turned the match in her favour, breaking for a 4-2 lead and serving out the win. 

Maria Sharapova  will take one step closer to her first Wimbledon title in eight years if she overcomes Tsvetana Pironkova in her second-round clash on Court One.Sharapova, the number one seed, looked in imperious form as she cruised past Anastasia Rodionova on Centre Court on Monday, and has a 3-0 record over Pironkova, but will wary of the tricky Bulgarian who reached the last four here two years ago.Sharapova saw two of her main rivals for the Venus Rosewater dish move in to round two on Tuesday: Serena Williams made it through with a straight-sets victory against Czech player Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, while defending champion Petra Kvitova overcame a wobble to beat world number 96 Akgul Amanmuradova 6-4 6-4.Williamsadmits she has been impressed by the way Sharapova has rebuilt her game to move back to the top of the rankings."She had a lot of issues and it took her about five years to get back so I am really proud and happy for her," she said."I looked up to that because I've had some issues myself. I'm a year back and I'm already in the top 10. I'm trying to do like she does and just keep going."For Kvitova, her Uzbek opponent had her in trouble at 4-2 adrift in the first set, but she then won six successive games before closing out a rain-affected match."I was nervous," Kvitova said. "It was the first time for me to play as the defending champion of a grand slam. It was huge honour to come to Centre Court and I wanted to make people happy but it's not that easy."But I'm happy that I stayed calm inside and did not panic during the important points."Elsewhere on Wednesday, Kim Clijsters will hope she can make it into the third round of her last Wimbledon when she faces Czech Andrea Hlavackova second on Centre Court. Third seed Agnieszka faces Russia's Elena Vesnina on Court Three while Li Na takes on Romanian Sorana Cirstea on Court 12.