Wimbledon, Day 7: Andy Roddick Out After Lu Yen-Hsun Pulls Off Stunning Upset

No. 2 Rafael Nadal has reached his 14th quarterfinal in his last sixteen majors with an extremely convincing 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over unseeded Paul-Henri Mathieu.

After needing five sets to win each of his past two matches, Nadal was in control quickly in all three sets against Mathieu, getting an early break in each frame and never looking back.

Three-time Wimbledon finalist No. 5 Andy Roddick suffered a shock upset at the hands of Taiwanese No. 82 Lu Yen-Hsun, falling 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 9-7 on Court 2.

Lu had not lost a set going into this match, and used his serve, speed, and forehand with lethal effect throughout the match.

Tied 6-6 in the fifth set, No. 5 Andy Roddick And Lu Yen-Hsun are now in win by two territory in their fourth round clash at Wimbledon.

Roddick had break points at 2-2 in the fifth set, but was unable to convert either chance.

No. 4 Andy Murray is into his third consecutive Wimbledon quarterfinal with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 over American No. 18 Sam Querrey.

Querrey was down a break 2-5 in the first set, but rallied to even the frame at 5-5, and even had triple break point on Murray’s serve at 0-40. But Querrey couldn’t finish the job, and folded as a steadier Murray took the first set 7-5.

In a match that was far more of a nail-biter than anyone would have predicted, No. 6 Robin Soderling beat clay court specialist No. 9 David Ferrer 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 to make his first Wimbledon quarterfinal.

Soderling seemed to revert to some of his hotheadedness of old during the match, growing increasingly frustrated with his inability to close out a win he must’ve expected would come more easily.

Whatever treatment No. 3 Novak Djokovic received in the third set must have worked, as Djokovic seemed fully recovered by the fourth set, finishing off a somewhat surprising win over No. 14 Lleyton Hewitt, 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Djokovic was able to keep rallies short with aggressive play, limiting the 2002 Wimbledon champion’s ability to counterpunch as effectively as he can.

Another set without a break led to the third consecutive tiebreak in the match. Roddick again started the tiebreak loosely, hitting a backhand into the net to give Lu a minibreak lead, which he extended to 3-0.

But Roddick earned the minibreak back to level the tiebreak at 3-3, and at 5-5 a Lu error gave Roddick set point, which Roddick promptly won with an ace out wide to level the match at two sets apiece and keep his Wimbledon run alive.

A second straight lousy tiebreak has put No. 5 Andy Roddick on the brink of elimination in the fourth round against unseeded Lu Yen-Hsun.

Roddick won the first set 6-4, with the only break match but has dropped the last two in tiebreaks to put himself in a big hole on Court 2.

The fourth round encounter between No. 3 Novak Djokovic and No. 14 Lleyton Hewitt is dramatically changing due to a Djokovic ailment, as many of his matches have before.

Djokovic won the first and second sets 7-5 and 6-4, surprising many who had picked Hewitt to win the match given the Aussie’s greater comfort level on grass courts.

Three-time Wimbledon finalist No. 5 Andy Roddick is in more of a slog than he bargained for against unseeded Lu Yen-Hsun in a fourth round match now guaranteed to go at least four sets.

Roddick got the first (and so far only) break of the match in the tenth game to take the first set 6-4.

No. 1 Serena Williams beat No. 16 Maria Sharapova 7-6(9), 6-4 in a marquee fourth round match on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

The story in the second set was the serve. Serena’s serve was absolutely unflappable, never facing a break point. Sharapova served relatively well as well, but a couple ill-timed double faults in the third game of the set helped Serena secure the one break she needed on what was the only break point either player had in the second set.

After a surprisingly tight first set that saw only one break by each player, No. 1 Serena Williams and No. 16 Maria Sharapova decided their first set in a tiebreak, which Serena won 11-9.

Sharapova had double set point at 6-4, but hit a forehand up the line into the top of the net on the first (which was on her serve) and then hit a forced forehand error on the second.

Unseeded Petra Kvitova absolutely obliterated No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki, upsetting the No. 3 seed 6-2, 6-0 in only 46 minutes on Court 2.

The two had the same number of unforced errors (11), but the extremely passive Wozniacki was only able to hit four winners to Kvitova’s 23.

No. 1 Roger Federer registered his most routine victory of the tournament thus far in the fourth round, beating No. 16 Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.

There was a notion spread by commentators that Melzer would be able to trouble Federer with his big lefty serve, but it did not play out that way at all. Federer broke Melzer’s serve five times, and was never broken himself.

No. 8 Kim Clijsters has defeated No. 17 Justine Henin 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles draw.

The second set was a complete reversal of the first, with Clijsters getting a break early and never looking back, adding a second break of the Henin serve for good measure.

2007 Wimbledon finalist No. 13 Marion Bartoli has lost in straight sets to unseeded Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-4, 6-4.

Pironkova, who previous to this is best known for her upset win over Venus Williams in the first round of the 2006 Australian Open, will meet Venus again in the quarterfinal.

No. 2 Venus Williams survived a tough challenge in her fourth round match against Jarmila Groth, winning 6-4, 7-6(5) to advance tho her fourth straight Wimbledon quarterfinal.

A tough first set gave way to an even tough er second set, with Groth breaking Venus’ serve in the first game to gain an early break advantage that stood for a long time.

The much anticipated fourth round clash between Belgians No. 8 Kim Clijsters and No. 17 Justine Henin hasn’t delivered on its hype thus far.

Henin has been in control of the match from the word “Play!”, quickly going up a double break for 4-1 and holding on to take the set 6-2.

The much anticipated fourth round clash between Belgians No. 8 Kim Clijsters and No. 17 Justine Henin hasn’t delivered on its hype thus far.

Henin has been in control of the match from the word “Play!”, quickly going up a double break for 4-1 and holding on to take the set 6-2.

No. 9 Li Na has defeated No. 7 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the second time in her career.

The win avenges Radwanska’s victory over Li in the third round of Wimbledon last year.

No. 2 Venus Williams won the first set against unseeded Jarmila Groth 6-4, but now trails the big-hitting Australian 2-4 in the second set out on Court 2.

Venus was not able to earn a single break point against Groth’s powerful serve until set point at 4-5 in the first set, an opportunity which she was able to convert to take the first frame.

Having lost nine of the match’s ten games, No. 4 Jelena Jankovic has retired from her fourth round match against No. 21 Vera Zvonareva trailing 6-1, 3-0.

Jankovic appeared to hurt herself in the first set, losing her footing on the chewed up back of the court and falling awkwardly to the ground. The fall appeared to have affected her back primarily, tightening it up and severely hampering her serve.

Without a doubt, the second Monday of Wimbledon is the best day on the tennis calendar.

It features all sixteen matches from the fourth rounds of both the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ Singles draws, meaning that just about everybody who’s anybody in tennis today will be in action.

With this incomparable slate in mind, here are the five matches to watch on Day 7 of Wimbledon 2010. Tough to narrow it down:

1. No. 1 Serena Williams (USA) vs No. 16 Maria Sharapova (RUS) -- This match has as much star power as any possibly could in tennis. Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are both stars that have largely transcended the sport, and the photographers are sure to be out in force. It’s their first meeting on grass since Sharapova stunned Serena in the 2004 Wimbledon final. Serena has won their last four matches, but the two have not played since 2008. On current form, the clear edge goes to Serena, but the same thing was said back in 2004 as well. Sharapova will not let up even if she is on the wrong end of a clobbering, so be sure to stay tuned to this one all the way until the handshake. The match airs at 10 AM on NBC in all American time zones.

2. No. 18 Sam Querrey (USA) vs Andy Murray (GBR) -- Queen’s Club champion Querrey takes on the British crowd’s favorite son in a match that looks pretty good on paper, but could fail to live up to expectations. Querrey is riding an eight match win streak on grass, and has a serve and forehand that should pay big dividends against anyone on this surface. But he has never before made it to the quarterfinals of a grand slam, and making his first by beating Murray at Wimbledon seems like a lot to ask. Murray, on the other hand, looked incredibly solid in the first week of the tournament, despite grass not being the best surface for his game. He was helped by an easy draw, but he still is yet to lose a set. With England out of the World Cup, the media pressure will now be back on him at full blast, so he’d better hope he can at least live up to his seeding.