Rafael Nadal, the only man capable of giving Roger Federer a run for his money, pulled off a great fight back to beat Mikhail Youzhny in five sets and reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals. The Spaniard was overpowered by the Russian's scintillating flat ground strokes as he lost the first two sets without forcing a break point, before launching his comeback when he finally made the breakthrough early in the third set.
Youzhny was slowed down by a back injury which required treatment during and after the third set, but it was Rafael Nadal’s quality which proved decisive. The Spaniard raced through the last three sets to win 4-6 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-2.
Jonas Bjorkman reached the semi-finals last year but his run this year ended in drama as he was warned for ball abuse and refused to shake the hand of the umpire.
Marcos Baghdatis is through to the quarter-finals for the second successive year after a straight-sets victory over Nikolay Davydenko. Backed by some noisy support, the Cypriot 10th seed won tie-breaks in each of the first two sets before clinching the third for a 7-6 7-6 6-3 success.
Baghdatis will meet fourth seeded Serb Novak Djokovic for a place in the semi-finals after he beat Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 7-6 4-6 7-6 in a match lasting more than four hours.
Djokovic won the three tie-breaks to reach his first Wimbledon quarter-final, crucially breaking back in the fourth set as Hewitt served for the set at 5-4.
Elsewhere, Venus Williams eased into the last four with a straightforward 6-3 6-4 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. The three-time champion answered fifth seed Kuznetsova's power game with some crushing returns and broke at 3-1 before serving out the first set.
BetUS.com has posted Wimbledon odds on the Men's Quarter Final Match Ups on July 6th, 2007:
6:00 AM EST Match Ups
Roger Federer: -4000
Juan Carlos Ferrero: +1100
Andy Roddick: -400
Richard Gasquet: +250
7:00 AM EST Match Ups
Novak Djokovic: -150
Marcos Baghdatis: +110
Rafael Nadal: -155
Tomas Berdych: +115
