Williams sisters crash out

THE Williams sisters last night faced suggestions their domination of women’s tennis was drawing to a close after they both tumbled out of Wimbledon.

The siblings endured straight-sets defeats, Serena losing to Marion Bartoli shortly before Venus was demolished by Tsvetana Pironkova.

It will be the first time since 2006 that neither has won Wimbledon and only the third final in 11 years that will see a different name etched onto the All England Club trophy.

Injury and illness have severely restricted both players over the past 12 months — Serena was out of action for 49 weeks until Eastbourne — and their very presence at Wimbledon has been seen as a victory of sorts.

But doubts remain over whether their decade-long reign, which has seen them win two of the four grand slam events for all but two of the years between 2000-10, is over.

Less than four months ago Serena underwent surgery to remove blood clots from her lungs and the 29-year-old vowed to return stronger from yesterday’s setback.

“I don’t know what I would say to those who asked if this is the end of an era. I’m still here. I plan on doing better,” she said.

“Absolutely this fires me up for the next year. Next year I’ll have less things to worry about.’’

The last time the pair tumbled out of a tournament on the same day was the 2008 French Open, leaving Venus to lament a disappointing afternoon.

“This was definitely not our best day. We both envisioned seeing this day going a little bit differently,” she said.

“We both want each other to win but unfortunately we weren’t able to.’’

Serena went down fighting to Bartoli, the superb ninth seed from France, saving four match points before succumbing 6-3 7-6 (8/6) in a fiercely contested tie-break.

“I obviously would have loved to have done better, but I think I did pretty well,’’ said Serena.

Five-time champion Venus offered less resistance to the highly competitive Pironkova, the 32nd seed from Bulgaria.

Meanwhile Maria Sharapova was reinstalled as title favourite after surviving a day of big-name casualties to reach her first Wimbledon quarter-final in five years.

After both Williams sisters and world number one Caroline Wozniacki lost, Sharapova saw off the challenge of China’s Peng Shuai to reach the last eight without dropping a set.

Wozniacki, meanwhile, faced further interrogation into her standing as the world number one after a painful Wimbledon exit but insisted: “I don’t really care what people think.”

The 20-year-old Danish player has risen to the top of the women’s rankings after winning a host of tour events, but she remains without a grand slam and yesterday’s defeat to Dominika Cibulkova means she has lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon for three years in succession.

Cibulkova, small in stature at 5ft 3ins but nevertheless a big-hitter, came from behind to beat Wozniacki in three sets.

Elsewhere Rafael Nadal fears his Wimbledon campaign may be over after he suffered a foot injury in a compelling and brutal fourth-round battle with Juan Martin Del Potro.

Nadal displayed nerves of steel and demonstrated all the qualities of a champion as he kept his Wimbledon title defence alive by coming through a compelling and brutal fourth-round battle with Juan Martin Del Potro.

The Spaniard faced set points, injury problems — he feared he may have broken a bone in his foot at one stage — and was comprehensively outplayed by his opponent at times.

But he edged two tense tie-breaks and finally wore down the 2009 US Open champion in the fourth set to take the match 7-6 (8/6) 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-4.

“I don’t know what the injury is yet. I will have an MRI (scan) as soon as possible,” Nadal said.

“I am worried for sure. I will have the scan and then let’s see if I can recover for Wednesday. I cannot predict the future.”

Del Potro, seeded 24th following injury but blessed with top-five ability gave Nadal the sort of fight he may not even expect should he reach the final. However, with 10 grand slam titles on his resume, Nadal is no shrinking violet and, after three hours and 52 minutes of stunning tennis, he took the spoils.

Meanwhile Nadal’s great rival, Roger Federer, marched into his 29th consecutive grand slam quarter-final with a four-set victory over Russian 18th seed Mikhail Youzhny.

Federer dropped the opening set — his first of the tournament — on a tie-break but hit back to complete a 6-7 (7/5) 6-3 6-3 6-3 win.

The 29-year-old is chasing a record-equalling seventh Wimbledon title and will play 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals.

Earlier Andy Murray powered past Richard Gasquet on a scorching hot afternoon to reach the quarter-finals.

Murray won 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-2 and move swiftly into the last eight. Mardy Fish dumped out last year’s Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych to reach the quarter-finals.

The American produced a hugely impressive performance to defeat the Czech sixth seed 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 6-4.