Tennis: Nadal, Federer, Hewitt into last eight at Wimbledon

LONDON - Second seed Rafael Nadal moved ominously into the quarter-finals of Wimbledon with a 6-3 7-6 6-3 victory over qualifier Irakli Labadze today.

The 20-year-old Spaniard struggled for rhythm against the unpredictable Georgian who entertained the court one crowd with a mixture of spectacular tennis and pantomime antics.

Nadal was never seriously troubled, although Labadze, the world number 166, did become a nuisance during a protracted second set before the world number two won a tiebreak 7-4.

French Open champion Nadal raced away in the third set to secure a clash with Finnish 22nd seed Jarkko Nieminen.

Nieminen became the first Finnish man to reach a quarterfinal at Wimbledon but he had to fight tooth and nail to beat Russian tennis player Dmitry Tursonov 7-5 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7.

It will be Nieminen's second second grand slam quarterfinal apperance after the 2005 US Open where he lost to Australian Lleyton Hewitt.

Nieminen, the 22nd seed, looked comfortable with a two set lead before Tursonov, the 27th seed, fought his way back, taking the next two sets 7-2 and 8-6 on tiebreaks and saving two match points, one of them in a thrilling 42-stroke rally.

But the determined Finn held his nerve in the fifth set, piling the pressure on the Russian who finally cracked when dropping his serve in the 13th game. Tursonov was docked a point after firing a ball towards the umpire in frustration.

Nieminen then held his serve for a stamina-sapping victory.

Triple champion Roger Federer's Wimbledon title charge gathered momentum after he dispatched Czech Tomas Berdych 6-3 6-3 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.

Berdych had inflicted one of the most painful defeats of his career on Federer, at the 2004 Athens Olympics, but there would be no repeat performance on Monday.

Federer oozed class on a sweltering Centre Court and wrapped up his 45th consecutive victory on grass with an unreturnable serve after 83 minutes.

The Swiss world number will next take on big-serving Croat Mario Ancic, the last man to defeat Federer on green lawns in 2002, or talented Serb Novak Djokovic.

British interest in the singles ended when Andy Murray went down 6-3 6-4 7-6 to Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis.

Baghdatis, two years older than the 19-year-old Murray, is the first Cypriot to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.

Lleyton Hewitt edged closer to another crack at a Wimbledon final with an unconvincing 6-4 6-4 4-6 7-5 fourth round defeat of Spanish claycourt specialist David Ferrer.

The Australian sixth seed, who ended an 18-month title drought by winning the Stella Artois tournament last month, was far from his best on court one and very nearly allowed Ferrer to come back from a two-set deficit.

Playing in the opposite half of the draw from his nemesis Roger Federer, however, the 25-year-old Hewitt will fancy his chances of reaching his second Wimbledon final. He won here in 2002.

Next up for Hewitt will be Baghdatis.

"It's always nice to get in the last eight," Hewitt told reporters.

"Sometimes you don't have to play your best tennis to get there, you've just got to try and find a way to win against certain different opponents.

"I want to try and step it up a couple of notches against Baghdatis."

Fourth round: Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) bt Max Mirnyi (Belarus) 6-3 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 2-6 6-3, 18-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) bt Andy Murray (Great Britain) 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-2), 6-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) bt 23-David Ferrer (Spain) 6-4 6-4 4-6 7-5, 13-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) bt 28-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 6-7 (4-7) 6-3, 4-6 6-4 6-2, 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt 13-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-3 6-4, 7-Mario Ancic (Croatia) bt Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 6-4 4-6 4-6 7-5 6-3, 22-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) bt 27-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 7-5 6-4 6-7(2-7), 6-7 (6-8) 9-7, 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Irakli Labadze (Georgia) 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

- REUTERS