WIMBLEDON: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams – players with a combined 12 Wimbledon titles – all won in straight sets Saturday to move into the fourth round and keep up their pursuit of even more championship trophies at the All England Club. Six-time champion Federer beat David Nalbandian 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to move closer to equaling the record of seven Wimbledon singles titles held by Pete Sampras and 1880s player Willie Renshaw. Two-time winner and defending champion Rafael Nadal committed only three unforced errors in a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 6-0 victory over Gilles Muller, a 92nd-ranked wild card from Luxembourg. Serena, chasing a third straight title and fifth overall in her comeback from nearly a year out with serious health problems, served 10 aces in beating 26th-seeded Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-2. Another former champion, 2004 winner Maria Sharapova, also reached the round of 16, downing Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3. Second-seeded Novak Djokovic overcame a spirited challenge from Marcos Baghdatis, winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the day's last match on Centre Court that lasted 3 hours, 15 minutes. It was a rematch of their 2007 quarterfinal in which Djokovic won in five sets and five hours. Djokovic, the Australian Open champion whose 43-match winning streak was stopped by Federer at the French Open, threw back his head and let out a roar after Baghdatis hit an errant forehand on the third match point. The two men embraced warmly and shared a laugh at the net. Djokovic, who extended his career record to 5-0 against the Cypriot, smashed his racket in anger after losing a point in the second set and received a warning from the chair umpire. He'll next face No. 19 Michael Llodra of France. Other winners included top-ranked woman Caroline Wozniacki, former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro and last year's runner-up Tomas Berdych. No. 5 Robin Soderling became the highest seeded man eliminated so far when he was beaten 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 by 18-year-old Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic. The 158th-ranked Tomic served 13 aces and was never broken by the Swede, a two-time French Open runner-up who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last year. Tomic's fourth-round opponent will be Belgium's Xavier Malisse, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2002, who ousted 11th-seeded Jurgen Melzer in three sets. Another tournament surprise is 93rd-ranked qualifier Lukasz Kubot, the first Polish player to reach the men's fourth round here since Wojtek Fibak inn 1980. Kubot upset No. 9 Gael Monfils 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Federer's next opponent will be 18th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, a Russian who downed No. 16 Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-3.Nadal will face Del Potro, who beat Gilles Simon 7-6 (8), 7-6 (5), 7-5 and showed he is nearing top form after missing most of 2010 after surgery on his right wrist. Serena next faces 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli, the ninth-seeded Frenchwoman who beat Flavia Pennetta 5-7, 6-4, 9-7.Sharapova will next face 20th-seeded Peng Shuai of China, who beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-2, 7-6 (5). Wozniacki, still looking for her first Grand Slam title, swept Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3, 6-2 to make the fourth round for the third straight year. Wimbledon is the only major championship in which the Dane has not reached at least the quarterfinals. Sixth-seeded Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, lost to Tamira Paszek of Austria in a three-set marathon – 3-6, 6-4, 11-9. Berdych, the sixth-seeded Czech, needed only seven points to complete a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 win over Alex Bogomolov Jr. of the United States. The match had been suspended because of rain with Berdych leading 4-3, 15-0 in the third set Friday. Berdych will next play 10th-seeded Mardy Fish, the last American man left in the tournament. He advanced when Robin Haase retired at 1-1 in the fourth set because of injuries. Fish was up two sets to one, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2. No. 7 David Ferrer and No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to a fourth-round meeting after straight-set wins over Karol Beck and Fernando Gonzalez, respectively.
