Weather continues to undermine Nadal challenge

SECOND seed Rafael Nadal’s Wimbledon hopes hang in the balance for the second night in a row after another rain-hit day at Wimbledon.

The Spaniard, who missed a match point in the third-set tie-break on Monday, resumed his match against Robin Soderling a break up in the final set.

But the Swede broke back to level at 2-2 and then after another rain delay, missed two break points of his own.

Rain again halted play with the score 6-4 6-4 6-7 4-6 4-4.

No further play was possible in the match, which the players had begun knocking up in on Saturday.

Meanwhile Former champion Lleyton Hewitt reached the fourth round of Wimbledon after beating Guillermo Canas in four sets.

Hewitt came through a rain-interrupted match 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 against the Argentine.

Hewitt had been leading 6-4 3-6 3-1 when rain halted play on Monday and the showery weather meant it was another stop-start match yesterday. The 16th seed will now face either fourth seed Novak Djokovic or Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer in the fourth round.

“That’s the longest and toughest rain-delayed match I’ve ever played in,’’ admitted Hewitt, who had originally been due to play Canas on Saturday.

“It was a mental battle more than anything but I felt like I handled it pretty well.’’

Juan Carlos Ferrero booked a quarter-final meeting with top seed Roger Federer after beating Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets.

The Spanish 20th seed and former world number one proved too strong for the Serb, who had knocked out fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez in the third round.

Ferrero, 27, dodged the rain on another showery day to win 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7-5).

It is the first time the former French Open champion has reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

“I feel that I’m playing good right now,’’ said Ferrero, who lost in straight sets to Federer when they met in the fourth round in 2005.

“I know it’s difficult because he has such a good record here but I have nothing to lose.’’

Sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko beat former junior Wimbledon champion Gael Monfils in straight sets in another third-round match held over from Monday.

The Russian won 6-3 7-5 6-3 against the Frenchman and will now play 10th seed Marcos Baghdatis for a place in the last eight.

Third seed Andy Roddick was in full control of his tie against Paul-Henri Mathieu before rain forced the match into a third day. The American leads 6-2 6-5.