Neues » Ireland and the French

LONDON - Former champion Maria Sharapova saved six match points before falling to Angelique Kerber in the fourth round at Wimbledon on Tuesday, ending her bid to win a second title at the All England Club a decade after her first. Five-time champion Serena Williams, meanwhile, struggled to even hit the ball over the net in a doubles match with sister Venus and pulled out after only three games with what officials called a viral illness. Sharapova, a five-time major champion, saved one match point at 5-2 down in the third set and five more in the final game before hitting a backhand long on the seventh. That gave the ninth-seeded Kerber a stirring 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 win on Centre Court in a match that lasted 2 hours, 37 minutes. "Its unbelievable," said the German, a semifinalist two years ago. "It was so tough (a) match. Every single set was so close. Marias a great player. I was just fighting, concentrating and focusing on myself. Im so happy to be in the quarters now." Kerber will next face 20-year-old Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard, the only woman to reach the semifinals this year at both the Australian Open and French Open. Bouchard beat Kerber in the fourth round at the French. Sharapova, who won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 17, was coming off her latest major championship at the French Open last month. "Its absolutely normal for people to have high expectations of me doing well in Grand Slam stages," Sharapova said. "I certainly do, as well. Today could have gone either way, and it didnt go my way." On a day when seven-time mens champion Roger Federer sailed into the quarterfinals, Serena was out of sorts from the moment the pre-match warmup began. She had trouble collecting tennis balls from the ball kids and missed completely on some practice strokes. The start of the second-round doubles against Kristina Barrois and Stefanie Voegele was put off for about 10 minutes while Serena sat in her chair and was examined by medical staff. In the third game, Serena hit four double-faults. She hit serves that bounced before reaching the net. Umpire Kader Nouni climbed down from his chair and walked over to speak to Serena. The sisters walked to the sideline holding hands, and the match was stopped. Serena wiped away tears as she left the court. The Wimbledon referees office and WTA said Serena had a viral illness. She left the grounds a few hours later in a tournament car with Venus. While Sharapova sought to dictate play with her big-swinging groundstrokes, Kerber played counter-attacking tennis and went for her shots when the opportunities came. The match featured high tension and intensity. Sharapovas shrieks grew louder and louder as the match wore on. Kerber went up 4-1 and saved two break points to lead 5-2 in the final set. She held a match point on Sharapovas serve, but the Russian hit a deep backhand that she couldnt handle. With Kerber serving for the match in the next game, Sharapova broke for 5-4. Then Kerber went up 0-40 on Sharapovas serve, but the Russian erased those three match points. Two more came and went. Sharapova twice earned game points but couldnt convert. Finally, on the sixth match point of the game, it ended with Sharapovas backhand error. Federer kept up his bid for a record eighth Wimbledon title by beating Tommy Robredo to reach the quarterfinals for the 12th time. Federer, who has not dropped a set in the tournament, overwhelmed the Spaniard 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 in just over 90 minutes. "All the things are happening that need to be happening to go deep in this tournament again," he said. Federers win set up an all-Swiss duel with Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka, who beat Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-3 to make it to the quarterfinals for the first time. Eighth-seeded Milos Raonic became the first Canadian man to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Robert Powell in 1912, beating No. 10 Kei Nishikori of Japan 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4) 6-3. The first woman into the semifinals was No. 23 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, who beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, 6-3 6-1. French Open runner-up Simona Halep breezed into the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan. Her next opponent will be 2013 finalist Sabine Lisicki of Germany, who overcame shoulder trouble to defeat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. ___ Tom Rathman Womens Jersey . Serves hit by her surgically repaired shoulder often missed the mark, resulting in 12 double-faults. Roger Craig Womens Jersey . Striker Dario Mandzukic scored the opener in the 22nd minute but was given a red card nine minutes later for a reckless tackle and left Croatia with 10 men for the remainder of the match. http://www.49ersrookiestore.com/49ers-Terrell-Owens-Jersey/. The top-ranked Spaniard won his fourth Madrid Open on Sunday after Kei Nishikori was forced to withdraw with a hip injury when trailing 2-6, 6-4, 3-0 in the final. And Nadal, who is coming off to uncharacteristic quarterfinal losses on clay, said his mental strength is still lacking just two weeks ahead of the French Open. Mitch Wishnowsky 49ers Jersey . -- Atlanta Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson is being checked for a possible concussion after blowing a tire on his way to the first workout of spring training. Custom San Francisco 49ers Jerseys . Joining him in this years class were Switzerlands Patrick Huerlimann and Norways Eigil Ramsfjell. The announcement was made at the world mens curling championship at Capital Indoor Stadium in China.The Springboks completed another European rugby tour unbeaten and the Wallabies won three straight tests for the first time in a year in autumn internationals on Saturday. Meanwhile, Argentina halted its worst losing run by defeating Italy 19-14 in Rome, and Romanias bid for an unbeaten year was ruined in its final game in Bucharest by Fiji, which triumphed 23-7. South Africa celebrated its first win over France in France since 1997 after a gutsy 19-10 result. The Springboks made a perfect start with JP Pietersen dotting down barely a minute in from his chargedown of scrumhalf Morgan Parra. Left winger Yoann Hugets try just before halftime gave the French hope after they trailed 13-0, but the Springboks never looked like being overtaken and had two tries ruled out for knockons. Only penalties were added in the second half. "What makes this team special is that guys really step up if they need to. You win these games by being mentally very tough and struggling through," Heyneke Meyer said. He coached South Africa to 10 wins out of 12 this year, losing only to the All Blacks. They compounded Frances dismal season with an eighth defeat in 10 tests. "Were not at their level yet," France coach Philippe Saint-Andre said. "Were still missing that little bit extra." Australia shrugged off a troubled build-up and the absence of key players to scrape past Scotland 21-15 at Murrayfield. Coach Ewen McKenzies plans were disrupted by suspensions and injuries but the Wallabies patched-up backline scored tries through fullback Israel Folau in the first half and winger Chris Feauai-Sautia at the start of the second, with Christian Lealiifano booting the rest of the points. The Scots, looking for a thirdd successive win over Australia, were only 13-12 behind at halftime thanks to Greig Laidlaws unforgiving boot and were never more than a converted try in arrears after the break.dddddddddddd But a familiar lack of cutting edge out wide proved their undoing. "Im sick of being good losers," Scotland coach Scott Johnson said. Argentina could thank Nicolas Sanchez for helping to end its eight-match losing streak. Sanchez hit three out of four goalkicks plus a dropped goal to pass 100 points in tests for the Pumas, while Tommaso Allan, making his first start for Italy, nailed only three out of eight. The lead changed five times and both teams scored a try. But even after conceding 16 penalties, the Pumas prevailed again in Italy, where they havent lost for 15 years. Romania had won nine matches and drawn one this year but were undone by the Fijians, who scored three tries to a penalty try. In Tbilisi, Georgia beat Samoa 16-15 for the first time. A week after losing to the United States by a last-minute penalty, Georgia won with an injury-time penalty by Merab Kvirikashvili. Samoa scored two highlight tries in the first half, including a 30-meter solo effort past four defenders by flanker Jack Lam, but they couldnt shrug off the Lelos and suffered a fourth straight loss, and third on its European tour after falling to Ireland and the French Barbarians. Also, Japan hammered Spain 40-7 in Madrid, Canada handled Portugal 52-8 in Lisbon, and the United States topped Russia 28-7 in London, after which USA Rugby chief executive Nigel Melville called the lack of a live webfeed of the match disappointing, and promised the Eagles would not play in Europe "where we cannot get an appropriate feed." ' ' '