Roddick stunned

WIMBLEDON, England (AP):

Three-time finalist Andy Roddick was stunned in the fourth round at Wimbledon yesterday by an 82nd-ranked Taiwanese player who had not won a match here the past four years.

The fifth-seeded American was ousted 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 9-7 by Yen-hsun Lu in a match that lasted over four and a half hours hours.

Lu sealed the victory in the 16th game of the fifth set with his only service break of the match.

The 26-year-old Lu had lost in the first round at Wimbledon four straight times and failed to win a match at the last five Grand Slams.

He is the first Asian man to reach the quarter-finals of any Grand Slam since Shuzo Matsuoka of Japan did it at Wimbledon in 1995.

Roddick served 38 aces, but converted only one of eight breakpoint chances. Lu had 22 aces.

"I thought he served better than he has against me before," Roddick said. "That being said, I had shots. I didn't take advantage of them."

Lu's win overshadowed victories by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray on the men's side, and the Williams sisters - Serena and Venus - and Kim Clijsters among the women.

Lu said he didn't believe he could win but told himself to keep fighting.

"I just told myself, 'If I can stay longer, longer, longer, then probably something happens'," he said. "And finally then I waited for the last chance to close the match."

Lu, who held up a finger to the sky, dedicated the win to his father, a chicken farmer who died in 2000.

Earlier, defending women's champion Serena Williams overcame Maria Sharapova 7-6 (9), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals and avenge her loss to the Russian in the 2004 final.

Wimbledon comebacks

Clijsters rallied to beat Justine Henin 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in an all-Belgian duel between former No. 1-ranked players making Wimbledon comebacks after returning from retirement.

Serena Williams served 19 aces for the second straight match - taking her total to 63 for the tournament - and held off the resurgent Sharapova in a tight battle on Centre Court.

"I don't serve like this too often," Williams said. "I don't know what it is about this court that makes me serve well."

In 2004, Sharapova - 17 years old at the time - stunned Williams 6-1, 6-4 for her first Grand Slam title.

"I had a few looks at her serve, but even when you had a good look and the ball's coming at you in 120s (mph), it's pretty tough to do much with it," Sharapova said.

Venus Williams pulled out a tough 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory over Jarmila Groth of Australia, the lowest-ranked player left in the draw at No. 92.

Federer, chasing a record-tying seventh Wimbledon singles title, swept past 16th-seeded Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to reach his 25th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final.

Nadal, forced into five sets the previous two rounds, needed only three to beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 and showed no sign of the right knee trouble which bothered him previously.

Nadal next faces sixth-seeded Robin Soderling, the Swede who beat him in the fourth round at the French Open last year. Nadal beat Soderling in last month's French Open final.