London: Top seeds found the going tough on Day Four at Wimbledon. Second seed, Rafael Nadal came back from being two sets down to win a five-setter and defending champion Venus Williams also survived a scare.
Second seed Rafael Nadal, looked like a fish out of water against a Californian with a passion for surfing on Thursday before he staged a stirring revival to get past unseeded Robert Kendrick and clinched a five-set victory and a third round clash with Andre Agassi.
The American pushed the French Open champion to five sets before losing 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 5-7, 4-6. With this win, Nadal has set up a thrid round clash with Former World No 1 and Wimbledon 1992 champion, Andre Agassi.
"I know he won here. He has a very good level here. But I am in the third round, too, right? I am playing good. I hope this match is going to be positive. I know I need play my best tennis to win and I going to try just that," said Nadal.
Agassi, in his 14th and final Wimbledon, had no such trouble against Italy's Andreas Seppi, using all his experience on the slick lawns in a 6-4 7-6 6-4 victory on court one.
Sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt was in a bit of a trouble, playing Hyung Lee. The match was very evenly poised with both players winning two sets each, but bad light put a stop to the game.
The match will continue on Friday starting with the fifth set.
In the ladies' event, sixth seed Venus Williams also survived a scare from Lisa Raymond. The defending champion came back from a set down to win 6-7, 7-5, 6-2.
"I think I definitely started playing better in the second set, but Lisa was still serving so well, just hitting the corners. She was kind of fast and low and volleying well behind it. Then I just picked up my techniques and my game and it was just a matter of me getting that one game. I just seemed to then get one break after another. It was all very exciting and I was happy that the third set was a lot smoother than the first two," said Venus.
Maria Sharapova also moved into the third round with her straight sets win over American Ashley Harkleroad 6-2, 6-2.
The 19-year-old Russian was given a rare excursion to court two, dubbed the graveyard of champions but came through with few alarms.
There were a few shocks littered around the All England Club as seeds began to feel the heat.
Patty Schynder became the highest women's seed to exit this year's Wimbledon when she was beaten 4-6 6-1 6-4 by France's Severine Bremond, while men's 11th seed Tommy Robredo fell 7-6 6-2 6-4 to rising Serb teenager Novak Djokovic.
Former French Open champion Gaston Gaudio, the 16th seed, is also packing his bags after losing 6-4 6-2 6-3 to Irakli Labadze of Georgia.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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