Mauresmo storms into last 16 with easy win over Santangelo

TENNIS: - London, Saturday Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo shrugged off a two-hour rain delay to storm into the Wimbledon last 16 on Saturday.

On a cold, damp day at the All England Club, the fourth seeded Frenchwoman made up for lost time by taking just 57 minutes to dismantle the feeble challenge of Italian 28th seed Mara Santangelo 6-1, 6-2.

Watched from the Royal Box by former West Indian cricket skippers Clive Lloyd and Brian Lara, who are more than familiar with wet English summers, Mauresmo was untroubled in her third round match which she wrapped up with an ace.

Worryingly for her rivals, the 26-year-old Frenchwoman has dropped just 10 games in three matches at the 2007 championships. Mauresmo, who goes on to face either Czech 14th seed Nicole Vaidisova or Victoria Azarenka of Belarus for a place in the quarter-finals, would have been delighted to have got on to Centre Court on Saturday.

Torrential rain had swamped the All England Club earlier in the day.

As well as a late start to action on the two main arenas, play on the outside courts had been delayed by four hours.

However, with more rain predicted for later Saturday, Wimbledon organisers insisted there were no plans to play on the middle Sunday, a contingency plan which has only been put into use three times in the tournament's history.

"Irrespective of the amount of play today, the middle Saturday, I can confirm that we are sufficiently on schedule and that, therefore, there will be no play tomorrow, Sunday, July 1," said Ian Ritchie, the chief executive of the All England Club.

Later Saturday, triple French Open champion Rafael Nadal was taking on Robin Soderling while 2002 winner Lleyton Hewitt was up against Guillermo Canas of Argentina. Also due in action were 2004 women's champion Maria Sharapova against Ai Sugiyama with former triple champion Venus Williams facing Akiko Morigami.

Maria Sharapova squeezed in a victory between downpours at Wimbledon on Saturday, beating Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3 6-3 to book her place in the fourth round.

The Russian gained the advantage in the first set when she broke in the fifth game. Her superior ball placement and light touch put pressure on Sugiyama in the ninth and the Japanese 26th seed handed her the set with a double fault.

The second seed seemed to lose concentration after winning the set, allowing Sugiyama to break her to love immediately and then hold serve to go 2-0 up.

The world number two got the break back in the sixth game and then stepped up a gear to rattle off the remaining three games, sealing victory with a forehand winner just as the rain which had delayed the start of the match poured again.

The players had to make a hasty dash off the court so the covers could be pulled over the grass.

Sharapova, the 2004 champion, will play either Venus Williams or Akiko Morigami in the fourth round.

- AFP