Tim Henman revelled in the atmosphere of 'People's Sunday' as he booked his
place in the fourth round of Wimbledon for the ninth year in a row.
Cheered on by a partisan crowd who had queued for the 11,000 tickets on sale,
Henman beat Morocco's Hicham Arazi 7-6 6-3 3-6 6-2 on Centre Court.
The British number one recovered from 2-0 down in the fourth set to win the
next six games and will now face last year's beaten finalist Mark Philippoussis
in the last 16.
Philippoussis set up that meeting with Henman by cruising past Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in four sets.
Philippoussis, seeded 11, looked be galloping to a straight-sets victory as he took the first two sets 6-4 6-1.
But the No24 seed hit back to take the third set on the tie-break by seven points to four.
And Philippoussis, nicknamed 'Scud' on account of his ferocious serve, did not have things all his own way in the fourth set before clinching the match 7-5.
Defending champion Roger Federer made up for lost time with a straight-sets
victory over Sweden's Thomas Johansson.
The world number one had waited 24 hours to get his match under way but he
took just one hour 38 minutes to wrap up a 6-3 6-4 6-3 third-round victory over
an outclassed opponent.
Defending women's champion Serena Williams thrashed Magui Serna 6-4 6-0 to reach the last 16.
World number 53 Serna was holding her own until the seventh game when a wild
forehand drifted past the baseline to give Williams a crucial break of serve.
The world number 10 held her next service game to love, but Williams delighted
the crowd by holding with a fine volley.
She then took the opening set 6-4 after Serna's backhand return drifted wide.
Williams wasted no time in breaking her unseeded opponent immediately at the
start of the second set, and after that it was one-way traffic.
Men's second seed Andy Roddick bludgeoned his way into the fourth round
with a straight-sets victory over Taylor Dent.
Dent was thrashed by his fellow American at the Australian Open in January but
there was no repeat performance here as the
23-year-old gave Roddick a thorough workout.
He frequently outfoxed the world number two with some crafty work at the net
and secured two set points in the second set, but ultimately Roddick's power
game was enough to secure a 6-3 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-1) triumph.
Women's fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo made short work of Ludmila Cervanova to progress through to the fourth round.
One month after the Frenchwoman brushed aside Cervanova in the first round at Roland Garros, she repeated the trick with some ease in the third round here.
The final score was 6-1 6-4.
Jennifer Capriati moved a step closer to a possible quarter-final showdown
with Serena by seeing off Nathalie Dechy in straight sets on a
half-empty court one.
The number seven seed took just one hour and 12 minutes to despatch her French
opponent 7-5 6-1.
Capriati will now advance to face Russian Nadia Petrova, the 10th seed, in the
fourth round after her straight-sets victory over Tatiana Perebiynis.
Victory there would send her into a mouthwatering potential quarter-final
against the defending champion, who she beat in both Rome and Paris earlier this year.
Men's eighth seed Rainer Schuettler is out, beaten in straight sets by the number 30 Vince Spadea of the United States.
Schuettler got to this stage by beating Britain's Greg Rusedski on Friday.
But on Sunday he crashed out of the tournament 6-4 6-2 6-3.
Spadea will next meet Sjeng Schalken, who posted a marathon win over Thomas Enqvist.
The No12 seed reached the last 16 following his
5-7 6-2 3-6 7-6 6-2 victory over the durable Swede.
Karolina Sprem, shock conqueror of Venus Williams, continued her fine run with a tough victory over Meghann Shaughnessy.
The unseeded Sprem knocked out the 32nd seed 7-6(7-5) 7-6(7-2) on Court Two.
Ninth seed Paola Suarez of Argentina is also through to round four after beating Anne Kremer of Luxembourg.
Suarez progressed 6-1 4-6 6-0 on Court Five.
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