Olympic Tennis: Day 5 Brings out the Greats to Shine

The grass courts of Wimbledon have remained good friends with the biggest stars in tennis as the Olympic tournament reaches the quarterfinals.

On a day that saw the tournament fully catch up after a few days of spotty rain, all six of the best players to play here have gone through and potentially set up some Gold Medal Matches that have some serious fire power.

On the women’s side, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka are likely headed for a semifinal clash.

Williams just utterly destroyed Vera Zvonareva in straight sets in today’s opening match on Centre Court. Losing just six points on her serve the entire match, Williams routed the former world No. 1 6-1, 6-0.

She faces Caroline Wozniacki, who has played a wonderful tournament so far after a lackluster season. Wozniacki took care of the Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2.

Azarenka was forced to a first set tiebreaker against Nadia Petrova, but won that and the second set, 6-4. She faces Angelique Kerber who defeated Venus Williams in two very tough tie-breaking sets.

Williams is playing probably her best tennis in five years, and will be nearly impossible to beat. Zvonareva only won 27 percent of the points on her serve.

The other half of the draw features Maria Sharapova, who was taken to the third set late Wednesday night by Sabine Lisicki. After losing the first set in a tiebreak, Sharapova stormed back to win the last two sets, 6-4, 6-3.

She faces Kim Clijsters who upset Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-4. Clijsters will retire after this year’s United States Open.

The other quarterfinal features former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Maria Kirilenko. Both players won in straight sets, and if Kvitova and Sharapova advance, it would set up a rematch of the 2011 Wimbledon final won by the Czech.

The seeds held to form on the men’s side Wednesday as well.

Roger Federer needed very little help to advance after beating Denis Istomin in straight sets. Federer will face the tall and hard-serving American John Isner in the quarters.

Isner downed Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets 7-5, 7-6. Federer will need to stay patient against Isner’s booming serve to go through.

Juan-Martin Del Potro awaits the winner of David Ferrer and Kei Nishikori in the other top half quarterfinal. Federer should be favored against any of those players in a semifinal.

The other big men’s names were stretched out to the full three sets on Wednesday.

Novak Djokovic lost the first set to the crafty veteran Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 4-6, before winning the last two, 7-5 and 6-1. Djokovic faces a tough customer in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga next.

Tsonga, who played a three-hour deciding set in his second round match, defeated Feliciano Lopez in straight sets, 6-4 and 6-4.

If Djokovic defeats Tsonga, he still faces a probable showdown with Andy Murray.

Murray also dropped the first set to Marcos Baghdatis, 4-6, but quickly found his footing and cruised through the last two sets 6-1 and 6-4. Clay court specialist Nicolas Almagro awaits Murray. This is Almagro’s best result ever on grass.

If Murray can defeat both Almagro and Djokovic—a very tall order—then the potential is extremely strong for a Wimbledon finals match-up against Federer.

What magnificent theater that would be.