Juan Martín del Potro ranked ninth in the world was to face Spaniard David Ferrer for the round of 16 as The Championships resume today at the All-England club after an eventful week one, but all matches were suspended due to rain delays.
The Argentine «Tower» and 2009 US Open champion is the only member of the eight-man group with a Grand Slam title on his resume.
The only one who made it before showers was Swiss Roger Federer, who besides being off colour against Xavier Malisse and appeared on the verge of retiring with a sore back in the first set before claiming a 7-6 6-1 4-6 6-3 victory to stay on track for a record-equalling seventh title.
The Swiss needed a lengthy injury time-out in the first set when he was barely moving, but returned to win the opening set tiebreak and after a rain delay, and further treatment at the end of the third set, he found some fluency to reach the quarter-finals despite looking far from his best.
Maria Sharapova’s expected challenge for the Wimbledon title turned into a damp squib on Monday as the off-form top seed was outplayed under cloudy skies by Germany’s Sabine Lisicki.
Looking to follow up her French Open title with a second Wimbledon crown, the Russian produced a performance as grey as the weather in a 6-4 6-3 defeat on Court One.
Four-times champion Serena Williams scrambled through to the quarter-finals at the grasscourt slam for the 10th time in her career although she was given a fright by powerful Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova in a 6-1 2-6 7-5 win on a blustery Court Two.
Williams will now face defending champion from the Czech Republic Petra Kvitova after she hit back from a poor start to beat Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 4-6 7-5 6-1.
Order of play for the main show courts at Wimbledon prefix numbers denote seeding):
Centre Court (1200 GMT)
3-Roger Federer (Switzerland) v Xavier Malisse (Belgium)
14-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) v 2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus)
1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) v Viktor Troicki (Serbia)
Court One (1200 GMT):
1-Maria Sharapova (Russia) v 15-Sabine Lisicki (Germany)
16-Marin Cilic (Croatia) v 4-Andy Murray (Britain)
7-David Ferrer (Spain) v 9-Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina)
Court Two (1030 GMT)
6-Serena Williams (US) v Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan)
3-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) v Camila Giorgi (Italy)
5-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) v 10-Mardy Fish (US)
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