July 01, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 15, 1428

LONDON, June 30: Maria Sharapova squeezed in a victory between downpours at Wimbledon on Saturday, beating Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-3 to book her place in the fourth round.

Champion Amelie Mauresmo shone amid the rain clouds on the Centre Court with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Italian Mara Santangelo in the third round.

Sharapova gained the advantage in the first set when she broke in the fifth game. Her superior ball placement and light touch put pressure on Sugiyama in the ninth and the Japanese 26th seed handed her the set with a double fault.

The second seed seemed to lose concentration after winning the set, allowing Sugiyama to break her to love immediately and then hold serve to go 2-0 up.

The world No 2 got the break back in the sixth game and then stepped up a gear to rattle off the remaining three games, sealing victory with a forehand winner just as the rain which had delayed the start of the match poured again.

The players had to make a hasty dash off the court so the covers could be pulled over the grass.

Sharapova, the 2004 champion, will play either Venus Williams or Akiko Morigami in the fourth round.

Serving first, after the match was delayed by almost two hours, Mauresmo set up break point against Santangelo with a lovely backhand crosscourt shot and the Italian went 2-0 down when she fluffed a forehand.

A double fault from Santangelo and then a wide forehand gave Mauresmo another easy break for a 5-1 lead and the fourth seed sealed the set with an ace.

Mauresmo, with her right thigh strapped, appeared to be unstoppable and she broke Santangelo in the opening game of the second set but a couple of errors from the Frenchwoman, including a double fault, allowed the world number 29 to level at 1-1.

Mauresmo broke twice more but just when she seemed to have the match sewn up, Santangelo began to put up a fight.

She had two break points as Mauresmo served for the match at 5-2. Santangelo was unable to convert either, however, and another ace from Mauresmo put her safely through to the last 16.

Meanwhile, it was billed as a showdown between Roger Federer and Marat Safin but the main event on Friday proved something of a damp squib as top seed Federer, gunning for a fifth consecutive title here, dismantled hulking Russian Safin 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 on Centre Court.

The Swiss lost his last Grand Slam clash against Safin in a memorable semi-final at the Australian Open in 2005 but he dished out ruthless vengeance here with a masterly display.

“I don't know if I played phenomenal, I just think I played the right way against Marat,” Federer said after his 51st consecutive grasscourt victory.

“I get very nervous before a match like this. We've had some incredible battles down the years. He's a hell of a player.”

Federer's next victim, barring a huge shock, will be Germany's Tommy Haas, who beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov.

Third seed Andy Roddick kept the flag flying for the United States at Wimbledon with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 third round victory over Spain's Fernando Verdasco.

Roddick's compatriot James Blake fared less well at the hands of another Spaniard, losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 to former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

The pair were the only Americans to make it through to the third round in the men's competition, equalling the lowest number in the Open Era.

Big-serving Roddick did not look under any pressure against left-hander Verdasco in the first two sets, rattling them off in 58 minutes, with a single break in each.

However, the world number 41 then upped his game and the third set was a totally different proposition.

Verdasco broke Roddick for the first time when the American put a forehand into the net and he went on to take a 4-1 lead.

Roddick, who won the title at Queen's earlier this month, had to rely on his serve to get him out of trouble on a number of occasions.

He broke back for 5-4 when Verdasco put a forehand volley out. The Spaniard then squandered two set points and crumpled in the tiebreak, which Roddick won 7-2 when Verdasco's backhand slice hit the net.

Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion, told reporters he had relished the fight.

Roddick, coached by twice Wimbledon champion Jimmy Connors, will next face France's Paul-Henri Matthieu, who beat him as a junior and on their only previous meeting on the Tour, in Montreal two years ago.

“But, you know, this is different territory,” said Roddick, twice a runner-up at Wimbledon.

“It's the fourth round of a Grand Slam. I don't think he's ever been to the quarters. Mentally I feel like I have a bit of an edge going in.”

12th seed Richard Gasquet continued his smooth progress against compatriot Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Saturday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Women’s singles:

Third round: 2-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat 26-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-3, 6-3; 4-Amelie Mauresmo (France) beat 28-Mara Santangelo (Italy) 6-1, 6-2.

Friday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles:

Third round: 3-Andy Roddick (US) beat Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2); 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat 26-Marat Safin (Russia) 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; 12-Richard Gasquet (France) beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.—Agencies