Tennis

Guess who's in quarterfinals

By Times Staff
Published June 28, 2005

WIMBLEDON, England - Martina Navratilova is in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon - in doubles.

The nine-time Wimbledon champion advanced to the final eight Monday when she and partner Anna-Lena Groenefeld beat Shinobu Asagoe and Katarina Srebotnik 6-3, 6-3.

Navratilova, who has won 31 Grand Slam doubles titles to go along with 18 in singles and nine in mixed doubles, will next face Vera Douchevina and Shahar Peer .

MURRAY LOSES AGAIN: Scotsman Andy Murray , who became a celebrity in Britain by winning two singles matches last week, played mixed doubles Monday and lost in the first round with Peer.

"I was rubbish," the 18-year-old Murray said. "The first set, I never played mixed before, so I didn't know what to do. I was scared about hitting it to the girl."

Murray and Peer lost to Lucas Arnold and Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-3, 6-4.

After the match on an outside court, Murray was besieged by fans. He has said he doesn't want to turn down autograph requests.

"I tried to do everybody's," he said. "But I couldn't because they were all pushing. I couldn't even move."

FUTURE NO. 1? Jill Craybas came within one match of joining some impressive company.

The 85th-ranked American upset two-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams in the third round at this year's tournament, but she lost to big sister Venus Williams in the fourth round Monday.

Had Craybas won, she would have become only the sixth woman to beat the sisters in the same tournament - and the other five have all been ranked No. 1 in the world.

The first to do it was Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in Sydney in 1998. Steffi Graf did it a year later at the same tournament, and Martina Hingis pulled it off at the Australian Open in 2001.

Of her victory Monday, Venus said: "It's probably a really big challenge mentally to play Serena and me in a row. I guess I had a good position to be second sister."

Kim Clijsters managed to beat the pair at the WTA Tour Championship in 2002, and current No. 1 Lindsay Davenport did it last year in Los Angeles.

[Last modified June 28, 2005, 01:47:08]