wednesday clockwatch
1631 - Sharapova dumped out.
2020: The Brits are through! Bogdanovic and South sink the number one seeds Bryan and Raymond 6-4 3-6 6-3 after a sensational performance on Centre Court. A nice treat for those who stayed behind.
2015: Super stuff from the Brits who break in the eighth game to go 5-3 in front in the final set. Bogdanovic is serving for the match against the number one seeds.
2010: Great hold from South who produces two super serves and two clean-cut winners after some exciting rallies to edge the Brits ahead 4-3 in the final set. Could the shock be about to happen?
2005: It's 3-3 now, though Bogdanovic and South are just managing to hold serve, while Bryan and Raymond are flying through their games.
1955: It's with serve so far in the final set, with the Brits 2-1 up on the American top seeds.
1950: Bryan and Raymond win the second set 6-3, and go into a decider with British pair Bogdanovic and South on Centre Court.
1935: Bryan and Raymond are now a break up in the second set. They lead 4-2.
1925 We've just heard that the Williams sisters have withdrawn from the doubles competition. No great surprise that, given Venus' singles run and Serena's injury problems.
1919 Bogdanovic serves out the set 6-4 and the Brits are in control against the top seeds!
1908 All over on Court Two. Murray and Jankovic win 3-6 7-6 6-2 against the British pairing of Bloomfield and Borwell.
1906 More mixed news - and could there be a shock on the cards? Britons Alex Bogdanovic and Melanie South are a break up at 4-2 in the first set against the top seeds, Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond. Meanwhile Jankovic is serving for the match alongside Murray on Court Two.
1855 Murray and Jankovic have a break in the decider. They currently lead 3-2.
1844 The Murray-Jankovic 'dream team' have taken the breaker 7-4, so they are into a final set on Court Two.
1839 That's the singles action over. There are a few other matches we're keeping an eye on, such as the mixed doubles clash on Court Two which features three Brits. Borwell and Bloomfield are a set up on Murray and Jankovic with the second set now into a tie-break. We'll keep you posted.
1836 That was one of the best matches of this year's women's singles. Henin edged it but Williams put up a great fight with her calf and hand both strapped. Henin goes forward though and now has to be considered a hot favourite to win the title. Her main threat now is surely Serena's sister, Venus. A reminder that she beat Maria Sharapova earlier today.
1834 Game, set and match Henin. It's probably apt that the match ends with another long backhand from Williams - that shot was largely the difference today. Henin wins 6-4 3-6 6-3 and will play Marion Bartoli in the semis.
1833 A high return from Williams gives Henin an easy volley but she nets! Deuce. However, it's match point number two after a Williams return is buried into the net.
1832 Williams takes control of the next point but then sends a backhand over the baseline. It's match point to the top seed.
1831 Henin's backhand volley fails to clear the net 15-30. Then a great drop shot from Henin and Williams goes wide with the reply. 30-30.
1830 Williams hits into the tape. 15-0. Henin follows that with a backhand of her own into the net 15-15 and the tension on Centre mounts.
1829 Williams hits the sideline with a forehand winner. 5-3 now, but Henin still has another chance to serve it out.
1828 Screams of 'come on' from Williams after almost every point now. An ace takes her to 30-15.
1826 Henin goes long and it's two break points for Williams to stay alive. And she does when Henin slices into the net. 5-2. Williams really is the best fighter on the tour.
1825 Nothing wrong with that backhand return from Williams and it's 0-30. However, Henin wins the next point courtesy of a booming forehand which forces an error.
1824 Henin starts with a double fault - her seventh of the match. Nerves from the world number one?
1822 A crunching forehand off a second serve brings up break point for Henin and when Williams misses an easy volley at the net it's 5-1 and Henin is serving for a place in the semi-finals.
1821 Henin pulls back to 30-30, again a backhand error from the American.
1819 A better backhand point from Williams takes her to 15-0 but clouds are gathering overhead.
1817 A love hold for Henin as she again works that Williams backhand. The American has strapping on her hand/wrist today and it could be that affecting the shot. She seems to be getting too much air on it today and Henin knows it. 4-1.
1815 A confident hold from Serena to 15 makes it 3-1. A much-needed game that for the 2002 and 2003 winner.
1812 Two shots into the net from Williams and it's 3-0. Henin in control in this deciding set. Remember the winner will play surprise package Marion Bartoli in the last four.
1810 Henin misses her trademark backhand and the third game moves to deuce.
1807 A good serve saves the first but Henin pressurises the backhand of Williams to win the next point and take a 2-0 lead. The backhand has certainly been a weakness today for Williams. She can't seem to generate her normal power, probably due to that calf problem.
1806 A brilliant forehand return makes it 15-40. Two break points!
1804 Good defence from Henin and a drop shot which wrong-foots Serena takes the Belgian to 0-30.
1802 Henin fights back from a sticky 15-30 situation by winning three consecutive points. 1-0 final set.
1800 Henin to serve first in the final set, usually a slight advantage. Outside, an interesting doubles from a British point of view sees Sarah Borwell and Richard Bloomfield a set up against the much-talked-about pairing of Jamie Murray and Jelena Jankovic. 6-3 the score.
1757 Serena takes the second set 6-3, firing down an ace which was initially called wide. She challenged and won so it's into a decider.
1752 Three successive errors from Henin make it three successive breaks. Serena has the edge again in the second set at 5-3.
1745 Henin misses two chances to break back immediately but bags a third and we're back on serve at 4-3.
1743 It's Serena's turn to put pressure on the serve as she gets her first break point and she's handed a 4-2 lead when Henin goes long.
1736 Two mistakes from Henin cost her the chance of a break in the fifth game and Serena holds for a 3-2 lead.
1735 A love service game for Henin makes it 2-2, 48 minutes in to this quarter-final.
1730 Another hold for Serena, she's 2-1 ahead on serve in the second set and not looking troubled by her calf problem.
1727 Henin responds with a decent service game of her own and it's 1-1.
1723 Serena makes a very positive start to the second set with some aggressive play and she holds to love.
1720 Henin finishes off the first set in style despite a third double fault, volleying at the net to take it 6-4.
1716 Henin earns the first break points of the match and doesn't waste them. Serena comes into the net and is left exposed as Henin dinks a lob over her for a 5-4 lead.
1713 The serving continues to dominate as Henin holds for 4-4. Nadal and Soderling have been moaning about each other in the press room. Nadal accused Soderling of not making eye contact when they shook hands, but Soderling responded: "If he's complaining that I never say 'Hi' to him what can I do? He must have been in his complaining mood today. If my opponent gets a lucky shot and he doesn't say 'I'm sorry', I don't care. For me it's okay. Why should I say I'm sorry when I'm like in the happiest moment of my life? I had to wait for him more than 200 times. It's tough. All the players play faster than him. Every point I had to wait for him. He had to wait for me one time and already he was staring, shaking his head."
1709 Serena holds to love for 4-3. The winner of this match will face Bartoli in the semis.
1706 Henin is growing into this match and she levels at 3-3. Bartoli twice failed to serve out her match against Jelena Jankovic yesterday but she has no such trouble this time, claiming a 3-6 6-3 6-2 win to reach the last four.
1703 Bartoli breaks again to lead 5-2 and she has two chances to hold serve and reach her first Grand Slam semi-final. Serena holds and leads 3-2.
1658 There's the first hint of a break as Serena gets to 0-30 but Henin wins four points in a row to level at 2-2.
1655 Richard Williams felt Serena shouldn't play, but she looks fine as she wraps up another service game with an ace for 2-1. Bartoli holds and leads 4-2.
1653 Henin levels it up with a solid service game. Already she's trying to move Serena around and she ends the game with winners into either corner.
1649 Bartoli breaks in the fifth game of the third set and leads 3-2.
1648 Serena holds, finishing up with an ace. She appears to be hobbling slightly between points but doesn't look troubled during play.
1645 Serena's left calf is heavily strapped. You have to imagine that if her movement is inhibited then Henin will exploit it much better than Hantuchova did on Monday. We shall see...
1644 Krajicek leads 2-1 on serve in the deciding set against Bartoli.
1642 Serena leads the head-to-head 6-4 against Henin and won the only previous meeting at Wimbledon four years ago. They've met twice this year, Serena winning on the hardcourts in Miami and Henin victorious on the clay at the French Open. Indeed, clay is the only surface Henin has beaten Serena on.
1634 Bartoli has taken the second set 6-3 to level up her match against Krajicek.
1633 Next up it's Serena, who it was revealed earlier has a tear in her left calf muscle. She's facing tournament favourite Justine Henin.
1631 It's all over. Sharapova saves the first match point but then she scuffs a forehand into the net after Venus landed a powerful shot right on the baseline. The first of the sisters is through to the semi-finals, 6-1 6-3. Sharapova didn't even have a single break point in the match, while Venus had 19, which sums up just what a one-sided contest it was.
1630 The mistakes pile up from Sharapova and she quickly finds herself at 15-40 - two match points for Venus...
1627 When Venus gets her first serve in, Sharapova has no answer. She powers through another service game and leads 5-3.
1624 No escape this time for Sharapova, who scoops a mis-hit forehand wide and is broken to love. Venus leads 6-1 4-3 and is serving well.
1624 Once again Sharapova struggles on serve and Venus quickly gets to 0-40. Three potentially decisive break points.
1623 Gasquet wins in straight sets - 6-4 6-3 6-4 - and he's through to meet Andy Roddick in thequarter-finals.
1622 The contrast on Centre Court is stark. Venus holds serve with ease again and it's level at 3-3.
1621 Gasquet breaks Tsonga in the ninth game of the third set and will serve for the match.
1618 Venus misses two further break points and Sharapova is off the hook and ahead at 3-2.
1617 Sharapova gets into trouble again with another lengthy service game. Meanwhile Bartoli is a break up at 4-1 in the second set against Krajicek.
1608 After a 22 minute service game from Sharapova, Venus holds in about one minute. It's 2-2.
1607 Gasquet and Tsonga are level at 2-2, Bartoli and Krajicek at 1-1.
1607 I'll be checking the record books, but I'm fairly confident that this is the gruntiest match in the history of the championships.
1605 Two hours in the locker room haven't cleared the doubts from Sharapova's mind about her ball toss and she continues to have problems, particularly on her first serve. She holds for a 2-1 lead, but only after 10 more minutes and two more break points - seven in all - for Williams.
1549 The players are warming up on Centre Court. Sharapova is serving and at game point, having saved five break points for Venus in this the third game of the second set. Venus leads 6-1 1-1.
1535 The clouds still look grey and threatening, but the rain has relented and the covers are off, so play will resume shortly.
1518 The covers are still on and the rain remains heavy. The forecast is for a brighter spell later, let's hope it's right.
1421 It's still raining lightly, but it's much brighter now and hopefully it won't be too much longer before the covers can come off.
1400 The rain is heavy, the sky is dark. This could take a little while.
1358 Suddenly the rain begins to fall and Sharapova can take some time to clear her head before returning to try and hold serve.
1357 Four more break points come Venus' way and the screaming intensifies with each one. Sharapova saves them all and the grunting and squealing continues to go back and forth...Gasquet somewhat more quietly takes his first set point to lead 2-0.
1352 Krajicek has taken the first set 6-3 against Bartoli and Tsonga has held for 3-5 - Gasquet to serve for the set.
1352 More trouble for Sharapova as she falters to 30-40 but she saves break point with an ace. Tsonga is serving to stay in the second set at 2-5.
1348 Venus holds with ease for 1-1 and remains firmly in the ascendancy.
1347 Gasquet moves 4-1 ahead while Bartoli has forced Krajicek to serve out the set at 5-3.
1346 Sharapova holds from 15-30 to take a 1-0 lead in the second set.
1343 Tsonga breaks a run of six straight games for Gasquet to get on the board at 3-1 in the second set.
1339 Gasquet saves a break point and holds for a 3-0 lead against Tsonga. Krajicek has the first break against Bartoli for a 4-2 lead and Venus wraps up the first set 6-1.
1336 Sharapova endures another miserable service game. She saves two break points before Venus attacks a second serve and makes the break for 5-1.
1334 Gasquet has the momentum now, securing an early break in the second set to lead 2-0.
1330 Venus is having no trouble with her serve and she holds with ease for a 4-1 lead. Gasquet fires down two aces in a love service game to move ahead in the second set. Bartoli and Krajicek are on serve at 2-2 in their first set.
1329 Before today Gasquet had not dropped his serve in the tournament. He was broken twice in that first set but secured three service breaks totake it 6-4.
1328 Venus misses those two break points and two more as Sharapova continues to struggle on serve, but she takes a fifth to move 3-1 ahead.
1327 Three errors from Tsonga hand Gasquet another break and the 12th seed takes the first set 6-4.
1323 Sharapova is having terrible trouble with her ball toss in the wind and her second double fault of the fourth game gives Venus two break points.
1323 Gasquet takes a 5-4 lead after the best rally of the match ends with a forehand wide from Tsonga.
1319 Williams takes the third game on serve, while Gasquet has broken back immediately for the second time courtesy of a couple of errors from Tsonga.
1315 Sharapova holds for 1-1, although with some difficulty. These two have met only four times, with Sharapova leading 3-1. However, Williams won the only meeting here on her way to taking Sharapova's title two years ago.
1313 Tsonga has another break against Gasquet, taking a 4-3 lead. Marion Bartoli and Michaella Krajicek are into the first game of their quarter-final match.
1309 Venus needs only a few moments to wrap up the first game, winning two points on Sharapova errors.
1302 Gasquet and Tsonga are now level at 2-2 and Sharapova and Venus Williams are warming up on Centre. Three points were played before the rain yesterday, so Venus is serving at 30-15 in the first game.
1300 The doubles marathon has finally ended, Melo and Sa serving out for a 28-26 win in the final set.
1256 I said Gasquet would need to break, and he has done already. It's back on serve at 1-1.
1256 Djokovic gets two match points at 6-4 in the tie-break, the first of them on serve. He misses it though, going long with a high backhand. Kiefer thinks he's saved the second with an ace, but there's no Hawk-eye on Court Two and he can't challenge the line call. It proves costly, too, as he mis-hits a backhand and loses the match.
1252 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has broken Richard Gasquet in the first game of their fourth round match. Gasquet has yet to drop a set but he will have to break back to maintain that record.
1250 Roddick completes the turnaround to win the match, helped by a slip from Mathieu who tumbles beyond the baseline and is unable to reach a routine backhand.
1249 Mathieu dominates the ninth point on his forehand and earns three set points. The first two are on the Roddick serve and he saves them both with unreturned serves. Mathieu serves the third and goes long on the forehand.
1245 Mathieu wins the first five points of the tie-break before Roddick hits back to 5-3. Djokovic and Kiefer are now into a tie-break in their fourth set.
1242 Roddick and Mathieu are into a tie-break - remember Roddick has an outstanding record in breakers - while Djokovic has missed a couple of chances to break Kiefer who leads 6-5 in the fourth.
1236 Britain's Bloomfield and Marray are out of the doubles, beaten in straight sets by top seeds Bryan and Bryan. Hanley, Ulyett, Melo and Sa continue to slug it out at 25-24.
1231 Roddick has broken Mathieu to love and they're back on serve at 5-4 Mathieu in the third set.
1231 To bring you up to date with those other matches, Mathieu is serving for the set at 5-3 and Kiefer is locked at 5-5 with Djokovic, still on serve.
1229 Soderling nets a backhand and gives Nadal a fifth match point in this game. This time the Swede can't save it as he goes long with a backhand. He challenges the line call, but Nadal is sure he's won and so it proves. 6-4 6-4 6-7 4-6 7-5.
1229 Soderling goes wide and Nadal hastwo match points - his second and third after missing one on Monday. The Swede saves the first as Nadal nets a sliced backhand, before the Spaniard whips a forehand down the line and inches wide. A missed forehand gives Nadal another chance, but he's unable to return a massive serve. A stunning winner on the run brings a fourth opportunity, but this time Soderling snuffs it out with an almighty forehand.
1223 It's 24-23 now to Hanley and Ulyett in the longest fifth set in the history of the championships. Just what was needed after all the rain delays. Nadal and Soderling play on after a brief pause to assess the weather.
1221 It's Soderling who gets the first opportunity to break, but Nadal forces him wide and he can't squeeze his forehand inside the line. Nadal holds for 6-5 and then the rain starts to fall....
1217 Mathieu now leads Roddick 4-1 with a single break of serve.
1216 Speaking of which, Hanley/Ulyett v Melo/Sa is currently 23-22 in the fifth set.
1214 Soderling goes one better and holds serve to love to make it 5-5. With serving like that, this match could run and run.
1213 Mathieu has broken Roddick in the second game of the third set to begin his fightback.
1212 It's a solid start from the number two seed, who drops the first point but then wins four fairly emphatically to take a 5-4 lead.
1209 Nadal and Soderling are under way - in the fourth day of their match (the fifth if you include Sunday). You'd be forgiven for forgetting that the score is two sets apiece and 4-4 in the fifth. Nadal is on serve.
1207 Andy Roddick has wasted little time taking the second set against Paul-Henri Mathieu, opening up with a confident service game for a 2-0 lead. Djokovic and Kiefer are now level at 3-3.
1203 Serena Williams' father Richard says he believes she should pull out of her match against Justine Henin because of her calf injury, fearing she will make it worse. Little chance of that happening I would have thought...
1158 The first four games have all gone with serve so Kiefer is serving at 2-2. The players are about to come out and warm up on the showcourts.
1146 Kiefer makes a more confident start to the fourth set, holding serve to take the first game.
1141 Djokovic holds serve to love to take the set. If he'd taken any of those three consecutive set points yesterday evening he'd be on his way home now for an extended rest.
1138 Djokovic is about to serve for the third set at 5-2. The winner of this match meets Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round tomorrow, assuming it's not raining...
1130 Kiefer finally gets on the board by holding serve in the fifth game but he's 4-1 down and this set already looks beyond him.
1123 This is the only singles match currently on court, which seems odd when you consider the tournament is 177 matches behind schedule and further rain is forecast for later in the day.
1122 Djokovic has another break of serve and a 3-0 lead in the third set.
1115 Kiefer makes a poor start with several errors contributing to a break for Djokovic in the first game.
1110 Away from Centre and Court One, Nicolas Kiefer and Novak Djokovic are warming up to resume their third round match, which is level at one set apiece. Kiefer fought back from 6-3 down to win the second set tie-break 8-6.
1101 Play will get started on time - that's in around five minutes from now on the outside courts - but there is a high risk of further disruption from showers later in the day. None of that will trouble Roger Federer, the defending champion has his feet up for anotherday.
1033 So, Tuesday was a disaster and we're now well behind schedule, but the signs are at least promising that there will be fewer rain interruptions today. When play starts, Rafael Nadal and Robin Soderling will make their 34th attempt to complete their third round tie. That's on Court One, with Andy Roddick and Paul-Henri Mathieu resuming on Centre, to be followed by Venus Williams v Maria Sharapova.

