Day 9 Round-up Church Road, London Middlesex England

Men's quarter-finals round-up

For the second day in succession, the tennis world shuddered to a temporary halt on its axis as a Wimbledon legend fell in the quarter-finals. After Venus Williams on Tuesday, it was the turn of none other than Roger Federer - Mr Centre Court himself - to bow out.

Though it had a certain degree of shock value, the result will not have come as a complete surprise to observers of the game. Indeed, all the ingredients were in place: a good opponent (Tomas Berdych, the Czech No.12 seed who had defeated Federer in Miami earlier in the year and made the semis at Roland Garros), the right circumstances (Federer had been pushed to four and five sets by unheralded opposition in the first two rounds) and even a few injuries to spice up the mix.

The No.1 seed admitted in his press conference to being hampered by a thigh niggle and in particular a very stiff back which he revealed had first affected him during his shock loss to Lleyton Hewitt in the final of Halle. This is to take nothing away from Berdych's performance however. He was quicker out of the blocks, serving deep into the corner from the deuce court and sending Federer left and right, grasping at thin air.

The Swiss found his rhythm in the second set but it proved only a temporary respite. His service deserted him, and Berdych was relentless in his pressure. The third set flew by, 6-1, in the blink of an eye, and when the Czech broke to lead 4-3 in the fourth, the die was cast. Even then, Federer had a chance to break back as Berdych served for the match but made by his own admission a "shocking decision" on an easy forehand. The six-times champion was out.

Berdych will now take on No.3 seed Novak Djokovic, who was involved in the only routine match of the day, a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over surprise package Yen-Shun Lu. The world No.82 who had stunned Andy Roddick in the fourth round battled gamely but was overmatched against the Serb, who is set to take Federer's world No.2 spot when the new rankings are released on Monday morning.

The other half of the draw saw two evenly matched ties where excellent returners got the better of big servers. World No.1 and now de facto title favourite, Rafael Nadal, survived a shocking start against Robin Soderling which saw him fall 5-0 down before he had barely uncovered his racket.

The hard-hitting Swede, who put an end to Rafa's 31-match unbeaten streak at the French Open a little over a year ago, took the first set, but Nadal was not about to join Federer on the sidelines. He shook off a spat with chair umpire Pascal Maria regarding disputed challenges and overcame a momentary blip when a Soderling medical time-out made him lose his focus for a brief moment to record a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 win, the final set an exhibition of accuracy and determination.

The Majorcan was clearly fired up throughout the contest, and will prove a stern test for local hero Andy Murray in Friday's second semi-final. Like Nadal, the Scotsman dropped the opening set, to French No.10 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but survived a nervy tie-break in the second to eventually cruise home 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2. The first break in the third set came in an epic nine-minute game where Murray wore down his tiring opponent, and the match was barely more than a formality after that - to the delight of the Centre Court crowd who afforded the No.4 seed a standing ovation.

There was more good news for home fans in the boy's singles, where 16-year-old Oliver Golding came from a set down to defeat No.1 seed Jason Kubler of Australia in front of an enthusiastic following on No.14 court.

The day was rounded off with more "Feder-esque" shocks, this time in the men's and women's doubles. 2006 winners and No.2 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan were defeated by Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman, while the Williams sisters' dream of a calendar Slam in the doubles was dashed when they lost to Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva.

Doubles

Venus Williams is now out of the Wimbledon Championships. After the disappointment of her quarter-final singles' defeat to Tsvetana Pironkova, the American and sister Serena exited the doubles at the same stage after Vera Zvonareva and Elena Vesnina came from behind to win in three sets.

The 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory for the unseeded Russians has also given Zvonareva a psychological advantage should she meet Serena in Saturday's singles final.

It was the Williams' sisters first loss as a pair at Wimbledon since 2003 but an upset never looked likely early on. The twice defending champions broke the Zvonareva serve and took the set, thanks largely to a significant contribution - both in the serve and at the net - from Serena.

The second set become something of a classic. Vesnina crucially held in the lengthy fifth game with Zvonareva finishing off a marathon rally at game point with a fine volley into the tramlines. The Russians sensed their moment and put pressure on the Venus serve. And it failed - just like it had during Tuesday's miserable loss to Pironkova - as she double faulted on break point to hand their opponents a 4-2 lead which they closed out.

Serena's own serve had seen no such problems in the first two sets - and she even collected three straight aces in one game of the second - but it fell apart at the start of the third. The defending singles champion lost her serve for the first time in the match at 1-1 and the Russians never looked back. Vesnina found some consistency to go alongside some bold hitting to ideally complement Zvonareva's calm and controlled game.

They were able to see out an entertaining match in one hour and 59 minutes and earn a place in the semi-finals.