2012 London Summer Olympics

[ Check Out Stunning Pictures from the Opening Ceremony ]

London

Roger Federer might be the world No 1 singles player, but when it comes to doubles he is not the same charismatic player.

At the Wimbledon courts, the famous Swiss and his partner, Stanislas Wawrinka's bid to retain their Olympic doubles crown faltered when they were beaten by Israel's doubles specialists Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

But there were no such hiccups for Fedex in singles as he made the last-eight stage of the Olympic Games' tennis event with a 7-5, 6-3 drubbing of Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin.

Federer has termed his 2004 Beijing doubles gold as the one of his most cherishing moments of his career. On Wednesday, he was not able to recreate that magic against the determined Israeli duo who lost the first set cheaply before coming back strongly to win the second in tie-break and then making easy meat of the third.

The 30-year-old Federer will now clash with either Serbian seventh seed Janko Tipsarevic or the United States' John Isner for a last-four berth. Belgium's Kim Clijsters, who has announced her retirement from top-flight tennis after this season, overcame another former No 1, Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, 6-3, 6-4 in 58 minutes to enter the quarterfinals.

Clijsters is looking to clinch an Olympic medal before she caps her illustrious career with the US Open, scheduled next month. Wimbledon champ Serena Williams too breezed into the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-0 hammering of Russia's Vera Zvonareva.

While Venus has an Olympic singles title to her credit (Sydney 2000), sister Serena is bidding for her maiden title in London, though she has two Olympic doubles gold with her elder sister. The 30-year-old, will face the winner of the match between world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki and Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova for a place in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, a record of sorts was created at Wimbledon when the Brazilian duo of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares played the longest Olympic men's doubles tie with 63 games before beating the fifth-seed Czech pair of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek 1-6, 6-4, 24-22 in four hours and 21 minutes in a second-round match.

The previous record was held by Thomas Johansson and Simon Aspelin who played 59 games against Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra at the Beijing Games.

The Brazilian pair's record came barely a day after France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won an epic Olympic three-set singles match against Milos Raonic of Canada.

 

 

Federer and Wawrinka Stunned in Olympic Doubles