WIMBLEDON: Venus and Serena Williams were both eliminated in the fourth round of Wimbledon on Monday, the first time in five years that neither sister will play in the quarterfinals at the All England Club. Defending champion and four-time winner Serena was the first to go, beaten 6-3, 7-6 (6) by Marion Bartoli of France, cutting short the American's return to Grand Slam tennis after nearly a year out with serious health problems. Older sister and five-time champion Venus was ousted 6-2, 6-3 by Tsvetana Pironkova – the exact same score of the Bulgarian's win in last year's quarterfinals. “Definitely not our best day,” Venus said. “I think we both envisioned seeing this day going a little bit different.” Also knocked out was top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who fell 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 to No. 24 Dominika Cibulkova in the Dane's latest failed attempt to win her first Grand Slam title. Six-time men's champion Roger Federer survived a scare, dropping his first set of the tournament before coming back to down Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach his 29th successive Grand Slam quarterfinal. Extending his career record against the Russian to 11-0, Federer had 54 winners, including 14 aces, and broke five times. Federer will next face No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who beat No. 7 David Ferrer 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (1). Top-seeded defending champion Rafael Nadal overcame a foot injury and outlasted Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in a Center Court battle that ended in fading light shortly after 9 P.M. local time. Venus and Serena have won nine of the last 11 titles at Wimbledon, and have faced each other in four finals. The last time the sisters lost on the same day at a Grand Slam was in 2008, when they fell in the third round at the French Open. With 2004 champion Maria Sharapova of Russia among those advancing Monday, it marks the first time since 1913 that all eight women's Wimbledon quarterfinalists are from Europe. On top of that, all eight come from different countries. In men's play, second-seeded Novak Djokovic kept up his bid for a first Wimbledon title by beating Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. The two-time Australian Open champion lost in the semifinals last year. Djokovic will next face Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic, who downed Xavier Malisse 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to become the youngest man to make the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Boris Becker in 1986. Fourth-seeded Andy Murray swept Richard Gasquet of France 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-2 – then took a deep bow to the Royal Box, where Prince Wiliam and his new bride Kate joined the rest of the crowd in giving the British winner a standing ovation. Murray, who has made the semifinals the last two years, is trying to become the first British man to win the title at the All England Club since Fred Perry in 1936. He met with the royal couple after the match. Murray's next opponent is unseeded Feliciano Lopez, who came from two sets down and saved two match points in the third set tiebreaker to overcome Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot 3-6, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 7-5, 7-5. Lopez served 28 aces. With no American women left in the draw, 10th-seeded Mardy Fish made it to his first Wimbledon quarters by serving 23 aces and beating 2010 runner-up Tomas Berdych 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4. Fish saved both break points he faced and finished with 42 winners and only 12 unforced errors. The sixth-seeded Czech hadn't lost a set in three matches. Cibulkova earned a quarterfinal matchup with Sharapova, beating Peng Shuai 6-4, 6-2 on a sweltering day. In other women's play, fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka beat Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-2; German wild card Sabine Lisicki reached the quarters for the second time, downing Petra Cetkovska 7-6 (3), 6-1; No. 8 Petra Kvitova, a semifinalist here last year, needed just 45 minutes to defeat No. 19 Yanina Wickmayer 6-0, 6-2; and 80th-ranked Austrian Tamira Paszek beat Ksenia Pervak of Russia 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to secure her first Grand Slam quarterfinal berth.
