Sport
Wimbledon 2012: Serena Williams beats Petra Kvitova – advances to semis
Outside Centre Court, it was a start-and-stop day at Wimbledon, as showers continued to cause headaches for organizers.
Play was delayed for about 30 minutes on the outside courts in the morning, although Andy Murray and Florian Mayer found enough time between the showers to wrap up suspended matches and reach the quarterfinals.
David Ferrer also advanced in the first match on Centre Court, where organizers again came under scrutiny for their use of the retractable roof. Their decision to open and then close it caused the start of Ferrer’s match against Juan Martin del Potro to be delayed by about 40 minutes.
Murray made the last eight for the fifth straight year by beating the 16th-seeded Marin Cilic 7-5, 6-2, 6-3, while Mayer ousted Richard Gasquet of France 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. American qualifier Brian Baker’s remarkable run ended with a 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-3 loss to 27th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.
Rain had prevented five of the men’s fourth-round matches from being completed on Monday. The weather continued to cause headaches as the start of play on outside courts was delayed for about 30 minutes because of light showers. When matches started, they were quickly halted again for another rain delay of about an hour.
“We stopped, obviously, a lot,” Murray said. “You’re always a little bit edgy when you come out after a rain delay when you have the momentum with you. You stop, and then you come back out, and it feels a bit like you start from scratch again. I needed to serve well today and I got a lot of free points that helped me out.”
Play on Centre Court didn’t even have time to start at all before the rain came. Organizers had closed the roof because of earlier showers in the morning but then decided to open it during a dry spell just before Ferrer’s match against del Potro. When the showers resumed, they promptly had to close it again and keep the players waiting.
