Wimbledon: Day 3

A look at who won, who lost and what’s next at the All England Club (world rankings in parentheses):

Who won

Serena Williams, United States (7) d. Urszula Radwanska, Poland (191), 6-4, 6-4 -- “I just felt like I should get it over with,” Williams said of playing in the wind on Court No. 2. Not many humans ever win a match at Wimbledon, but some have mastered it such that it can be sort of an errand.

Ana Ivanovic, Serbia (1) d. Nathalie Dechy, France (97), 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 10-8 -- A comment previewing this match in this box on Wednesday went as follows: “This shouldn’t take too long.” After 3 hours 24 minutes, two tiebreakers and a 10-8 third set, it’s clear this woeful prediction lacked only the words “relative to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

Sunshine (very low-seeded) -- A hopeless underdog upon this great island, it prevailed for the entire first three days of this tournament. Some upsets just defy belief.

Roger Federer, Switzerland (1) d. Robin Soderling, Sweden (41), 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3) -- On one point late in the third set, he retreated to fetch a marvelous Soderling lob, then loosed a passing shot that curled past Soderling at the net. For his matches, they should pipe in Mozart.

Two Americans Not Named Williams, Roddick or Blake (102 and 69). The Atlantan Bobby Reynolds found his way to his second Grand Slam third round in his ninth Grand Slam event, following upon the 2005 Australian. The Miamian Bethanie Mattek, playing her 12th Grand Slam event, reached her first third round and deepened her knack for Wimbledon, where she won a match last year before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Who lost

Novak Djokovic, Serbia (3) lost to Marat Safin, Russia (75), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-2 -- The Australian Open champion’s two-year consistency made this one-day result shocking and sent him off to “leave the rackets at home and go somewhere many miles away.” He’s only 21, but it’ll feel strange without him.

What’s next

Venus Williams, United States (7) vs. Anne Keothavong, Great Britain (92) -- In the place she feels most comfortable, Williams faces a second straight match against a home team.

Andy Roddick, United States (6) vs. Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia (40) -- An upstart country of 300 million sends its top guy against the second-best guy from the mastodon country of 10 million. Even given Tipsarevic’s fabulous five-set bouts against Fernando Gonzalez here last year (win) and Federer in Australia (loss), Lilliput might just pull it off.

Rafael Nadal, Spain (2) vs. Ernests Gulbis, Latvia (48) -- Nadal has reached middle age at 22, and here comes what looks like a future threat, at 19. The tournament may be genteel, but the sport is ruthless.

Maria Sharapova, Russia (2) vs. Alla Kudryavtseva, Russia (154) -- Unlike Serena Williams’ trench coat, Sharapova’s sort-of-see-through tuxedo get-up seems to be panned by many fashionistas in the press room. They’re right, of course.