Federer, Roddick, Venus Advance As Hanescu Spits Out of Wimbledon.

We all needed a status quo day after all the drama slash pomp and circumstance of the last week. And while we brace ourselves for the second week where the real business of the tournament will take place, we should take a moment to reflect on the wins of Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick, Venus Williams and Roger Federer. But as John Isner graciously bowed out from action at the beginning of the day, Friday’s end saw a strange turn as a late match ended in a retirement, then spitting (saliva not rain) and then arrests of some very belligerent fans.

I’ll admit I woke up late so I didn’t catch Justine Henin or Kim Clijsters as they both won in convincing fashion to set up a fourth round match that will probably determine Venus Williams’s semifinal opponent. Venus herself had to work a bit against Alisa Kleybanova before finally pulling out a 6-4, 6-2 win that had the world No.2 lose an earring on the beat up Centre Court. Of course, a kind ball girl found it and kept it in her pocket, instead of trying to sell it on Ebay later that night, before she returned it to Venus after the match. Speaking of fashion, Roger Federer and his many accessories (clothing and racquet-wise) had no trouble against France’s Arnaud Clement as the top seed finally had a routine win 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. Federer will now face the always feisty Jurgen Melzer who took out Feliciano “Baby Daddy” Lopez in four sets.

Novak Djokovic and Lleyton Hewitt set up their expected fourth round clash today with easy wins while Andy Roddick decided he needed a tougher workout against Philipp Kohlschrieber. Roddick, who had three set points in the second set on the German’s service game at 4-5, instead lost a tiebreak before finally pulling out the win 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3. I have a feeling Roddick may want to face Djokovic instead of Hewitt who has looked awfully good especially on his return game. On the ladies’ side, the only mild upset was Vera Zvonareva taking out Yanina Wickmayer 6-4, 6-2.

And then there was the spitting. In the strangest turn of events yet, Victor Hanescu, the no. 31 seed, apparently retired on purpose to Daniel Brands of Germany after going down 6-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 3-0 in the third round. Hanescu, who felt he was the victim of vicious fans who taunted him throughout the match, wasted four match points in the third set and then was jeered, and not necessarily by those in favor of Brands, before he swore at them first and then spit in disgust after going down 0-2 in the final set. After the match, Scotland Yard made several arrests although police said that the arrests and Hanescu’s complaints about the fans were not linked. Brands will now face Tomas Berdych who needed five sets to wear down Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile the quote of the day came from Andy Roddick (naturally) when, during his press conference, he disclosed a rather creepy fact about his friend John Isner who went down in rather easy, yet understandable fashion, to Thiemo de Bakker 6-0, 6-3, 6-2. Roddick, who along with his team brought takeaway food to Isner on the eve of his continued match against Nicolas Mahut, saw Isner’s feet up close. Roddick said, “I’m going to tell you guys this because he (Isner) probably wouldn’t: his toes were just torched. I mean, they looked like deli meat. They’re disgusting. I don’t know if it was from playing that long or doing whatever. They were shredded. I don’t know how he could have looked, and then throw in serving for that long. It’s not surprising that he couldn’t go out there.”

Yeah. It’s been that kind of Wimbledon.

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