LONDON (Reuters) – Rafa Nadal came through a training session on a slippery Wimbledon practice court unscathed on Tuesday with his coach saying the world number one will have shaken off a foot injury in time for his quarter-final against Mardy Fish.

Nadal hurt his left foot toward the end of the first set of Monday’s four-set victory over Juan Martin Del Potro and needed almost 10 minutes of courtside treatment from a physio and doctor.

A scan earlier on Tuesday revealed no major damage.

“If the world didn’t sleep easy because Rafa has a problem it would be the most crazy thing ever,” joked the Spaniard’s coach and uncle Toni Nadal after the defending champion’s hitting session with British junior Evan Hoyt.

“A guy said to me once ‘We’re worried about Rafa’. I said ‘Don’t worry about him, worry about yourself’.

“Yesterday he had a problem. Things don’t disappear magically but tomorrow he’ll be in a condition to play.”

Asked if he thought his charge would be at his usual full fitness for Wednesday’s match, a daunting proposition for American number one Fish, uncle Nadal was not giving anything away.

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) – Rafa Nadal came through a training session on a slippery Wimbledon practice court unscathed on Tuesday with his coach saying the world number one will have shaken off a foot injury in time for his quarter-final against Mardy Fish.

Nadal hurt his left foot towards the end of the first set of Monday’s four-set victory over Juan Martin Del Potro and needed almost 10 minutes of courtside treatment from a physio and doctor.

A scan earlier on Tuesday revealed no major damage.

“If the world didn’t sleep easy because Rafa has a problem it would be the most crazy thing ever,” joked the Spaniard’s coach and uncle Toni Nadal after the defending champion’s hitting session with British junior Evan Hoyt.

“A guy said to me once ‘We’re worried about Rafa’. I said ‘Don’t worry about him, worry about yourself’.

“Yesterday he had a problem. Things don’t disappear magically but tomorrow he’ll be in a condition to play.”

Asked if he thought his charge would be at his usual full fitness for Wednesday’s match, a daunting proposition for American number one Fish, uncle Nadal was not giving anything away.

By Tom Pilcher

(Reuters) – The rare sight of neither Williams sister in the Wimbledon quarter-finals will have the remaining eight women in the draw buzzing with the possibility of reaching the final, none more so than 2004champion Maria Sharapova.

Only once since 1998 has the quarter-final lineup not included Serena or Venus, in 2006, and with fifth seed Sharapova the only grand slam champion left the title now seems hers to lose.

However, the Russian three-times grand slam champion is not the highest seed still in the tournament, fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus just pips her, and she has feisty 24th seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia to contend with next.

Cibulkova sprung into life after a first-set pummeling by world number one Caroline Wozniacki to produce some devastating ground strokes of her own and will test all of Sharapova’s skill.

First up on Center Court is Sabine Lisicki of Germany, seeking to become the first wildcard to win the women’s singles, against ninth seed Marion Bartoli of France who is fresh from a morale-boosting win over Serena.

Over on Court One, last year’s surprise semi-finalist Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic plays Bulgarian 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova, who also upset the odds to reach the last four in 2010.

June 27 (Reuters) – The rare sight of neither Williams sister in the Wimbledon quarter-finals will have the remaining eight women in the draw buzzing with the possibility of reaching the final, none more so than 2004champion Maria Sharapova.

Only once since 1998 has the quarter-final lineup not included Serena or Venus, in 2006, and with fifth seed Sharapova the only grand slam champion left the title now seems hers to lose.

However, the Russian three-times grand slam champion is not the highest seed still in the tournament, fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus just pips her, and she has feisty 24th seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia to contend with next.

Cibulkova sprung into life after a first-set pummelling by world number one Caroline Wozniacki to produce some devastating ground strokes of her own and will test all of Sharapova’s skill.

First up on Centre Court is Sabine Lisicki of Germany, seeking to become the first wildcard to win the women’s singles, against ninth seed Marion Bartoli of France who is fresh from a morale-boosting win over Serena.

Over on Court One, last year’s surprise semi-finalist Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic plays Bulgarian 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova, who also upset the odds to reach the last four in 2010.

Finally, the unseeded Tamira Paszek of Austria takes on the noisy Azarenka.

LONDON (Reuters) – Mardy Fish kept the U.S. flag flying at Wimbledon on Monday by beating last year’s runner-up Tomas Berdych 7-6 6-4 6-4 to book a quarter-final place as the other American survivors exited the tournament.

Tenth seed Fish edged a first-set tiebreak 7-5 before pulling away from the Czech sixth seed to set up a last-eight clash with defending champion Rafa Nadal.

Compatriots Serena and Venus Williams were bundled out of the women’s draw earlier on Monday before Fish chalked up 23 aces and signed off with an emphatic smash.

“It’s not what you set out to do. Being the highest-ranked American, I guess on both sides now, comes a pretty high responsibility,” the world number nine told reporters.

“People are watching. You feel like people are watching more than before, especially with me,” added the 29-year-old, clearly buoyed by his stellar performance against the dangerous Czech.

“This is probably one of the best serving days I’ve had,” said Fish after facing just two break points.

In his first-round defeat of Marcel Granollers Fish faced no break points and his serve is clicking at just the right time.

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) – Mardy Fish kept the U.S. flag flying at Wimbledon on Monday by beating last year’s runner-up Tomas Berdych 7-6 6-4 6-4 to book a quarter-final place as the other American survivors exited the tournament.

Tenth seed Fish edged a first-set tiebreak 7-5 before pulling away from the Czech sixth seed to set up a last-eight clash with defending champion Rafa Nadal.

Compatriots Serena and Venus Williams were bundled out of the women’s draw earlier on Monday before Fish chalked up 23 aces and signed off with an emphatic smash.

“It’s not what you set out to do. Being the highest-ranked American, I guess on both sides now, comes a pretty high responsibility,” the world number nine told reporters.

“People are watching. You feel like people are watching more than before, especially with me,” added the 29-year-old, clearly buoyed by his stellar performance against the dangerous Czech.

“This is probably one of the best serving days I’ve had,” said Fish after facing just two break points.

In his first-round defeat of Marcel Granollers Fish faced no break points and his serve is clicking at just the right time.

LONDON (Reuters) – Bernard Tomic’s profile page on the ATP Tour website is blank but after beating fifth seed Robin Soderling in the third round on Saturday people will be reading a whole lot more about the youngest player left in the Wimbledon draw.

The last time an 18-year-old got this far in the men’s singles at the grasscourt grand slam was 21 years ago when American Michael Chang achieved the feat and Tomic has no intention of stopping.

“I didn’t know that I was the (first) 18-year-old that got there in the fourth round after 21 years. You don’t really put your mind to it,” the jubilant Australian told reporters after his dashing display had filled Court One to bursting point.

“You really want to keep going. That’s what I’m going to do,” he said after his commanding 6-1 6-4 7-5 demolition of shell-shocked Swede.

Watch out Xavier Malisse. The 30-year-old Belgian reached the semi-finals here in 2002 but will have his work cut out against the sprightly Tomic who took Malisse to three sets last year at the Queen’s Club grasscourt tournament.

But who is Tomic, the teenager set to end Lleyton Hewitt’s 11-year reign as Australian number one?

Born in Germany, he moved to Australia aged 3-1/2 and started playing tennis at seven before becoming the youngest player to win a grand slam junior title with victory at the 2008 Australian Open.

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) – Bernard Tomic’s profile page on the ATP Tour website is blank but after beating fifth seed Robin Soderling in the third round on Saturday people will be reading a whole lot more about the youngest player left in the Wimbledon draw.

The last time an 18-year-old got this far in the men’s singles at the grasscourt grand slam was 21 years ago when American Michael Chang achieved the feat and Tomic has no intention of stopping.

“I didn’t know that I was the (first) 18-year-old that got there in the fourth round after 21 years. You don’t really put your mind to it,” the jubilant Australian told reporters after his dashing display had filled Court One to bursting point.

“You really want to keep going. That’s what I’m going to do,” he said after his commanding 6-1 6-4 7-5 demolition of shell-shocked Swede.

Watch out Xavier Malisse. The 30-year-old Belgian reached the semi-finals here in 2002 but will have his work cut out against the sprightly Tomic who took Malisse to three sets last year at the Queen’s Club grasscourt tournament.

But who is Tomic, the teenager set to end Lleyton Hewitt’s 11-year reign as Australian number one?

Born in Germany, he moved to Australia aged 3-1/2 and started playing tennis at seven before becoming the youngest player to win a grand slam junior title with victory at the 2008 Australian Open.

LONDON (Reuters) – Fifth seed Robin Soderling lost 6-1 6-4 7-5 to 18-year-old Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic on Saturday in the biggest upset so far in the men’s singles at Wimbledon.

The youngest player in the men’s draw, poised to end Lleyton Hewitt’s 11-year reign as Australian number one, produced a brilliant all-round display to stun the ailing Swede, who fought back from two sets down to beat Hewitt in the last round.

“Most definitely the best achievement that I’ve done in my career so far and I’m really happy,” the Australian qualifier told reporters after a standing ovation on Court One.

“I’ll always remember this is the first time I’ve really done well at a grand slam,” added Tomic, who came from two sets down to beat Igor Andreev in the second round having knocked out number 29 seed Nikolay Davydenko in the first.

The world number 158 showed no signs of fatigue from that match, however, and raced through the first set in just 17 minutes, before mixing rasping groundstrokes with delicate volleys and lobs to seal victory inside two hours.

Soderling, in contrast, appeared off the boil from the beginning, regularly draping his towel around his neck during changes of end and taking deep breaths as he ambled around the baseline between points.

“I felt weak. I felt a little bit dizzy. It just wasn’t a good day,” the 26-year-old told reporters.