By John Cherwa and Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times –
LONDON — Serena Williams remained the last U.S. singles tennis player standing at the Olympics on Thursday at Wimbledon. But John Isner gave it a great try, losing to yet another Roger Federer magic moment.
Wlliams coasted past former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, 6-0, 6-3, continuing her dominance of the women’s bracket. She hit 30 winners, including six aces, and will face off in the semifinals against current No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Azarenka beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber, 6-4, 7-5.
Isner, the 6-foot-9 rising U.S. men’s star, stretched No. 1 Federer, but lost, 6-4, 7-6 (5). The final point of the tiebreaker may be an omen for what is ahead here. Isner served on the first match point of the match and Federer hit a backhand that clipped the net cord and fell over for the winning point.
“I felt bad, but relieved,” Federer said of the lucky shot. “The whole big serving thing (of Isner) was over.”
It was Isner’s first match on Wimbledon’s Centre Court, but certainly not his first experience at Wimbledon. In 2010, he and Nicolas Mahut of France played a record three-day marathon, on Court 18, that ended with a 70-68 fifth-set victory for Isner.
Also on Thursday, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic made his way into the men’s semifinal opposite Britain’s Andy Murray and Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro drew the next straw against Federer in the other semifinal.
Maria Sharapova outlasted Belgium’s Kim Clijsters for the other women’s semifinal spot opposite Maria Kirilenko. Sharapova and Kirilenko are Russian.
The U.S. remained medal contenders in doubles. In the men’s, No. 1 Bob and Mike Bryan advanced to the semifinals, as did Venus and Serena Williams, and Lisa Raymond and Liezel Huber in the women’s. In the mixed, Raymond and Mike Bryan are still alive.
