Defending champion Roger Federer and British No. 1 Andy Murray both enjoyed comfortable passages into the quarter finals of Wimbledon on Monday.
Federer eased through with a 6-3 6-2 6-3 victory over 16th seed Austrian Jurgen Melzer in a match which took just over 85 minutes to complete.
In the next round, the defending champion will face 12th seed Thomas Berdych, who defeated Germany’s Daniel Brands 4-6 7-6 7-5 6-3. It will be the Swiss’ 25th consecutive Grand Slam quarter final.
Scotland’s Murray proved too strong for American Sam Querrey, winning 7-5 6-3 6-4. His reward will be a quarter final match-up against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who defeated fellow Frenchman (and sometimes double partner) Julien Benneteau 6-1 6-4 3-6 6-1.
In the women’s singles, 8th seed Kim Clijsters was victorious over fellow Belgian Justine Henin. Clijsters struggled in the first set but eventually ran out with a 2-6 6-2 6-3 win. She will now face Vera Zvonareva, who was leading Jelana Jankovic 6-1 3-0, when her opponent withdrew due to a back injury.
Venus Williams sealed a straight sets victory over Slovakian Jarmila Groth, but had to come from 3-5 behind in the second set to eventually take the match 6-4 7-6. In the quarters, Williams will face Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova after her 6-4 6-4 upset against 11th seed Marion Bartoli. Pironkova had previously never gone past the second round of a Grand Slam tournament.
Elsewhere Petra Kvitova shocked third seed Caroline Wozniaki 6-2 6-0, and Na Li overcame Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-2.
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