Federer overcomes injury to reach last eight as rain hits Wimbledon schedule mortify

A worrying back problem and the damp British weather were not enough to stop Roger Federer marching into a 33rd successive grand slam quarterfinal on Monday.

The 16-time major winner kept alive his hopes of joining Pete Sampras on seven Wimbledon successes after beating another tennis veteran Xavier Malisse 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 4-6 6-3 for the 850th victory of his illustrious career.

Federer, who had to come from two sets down to defeat fellow 30-year-old Julien Benneteau on Friday, needed to call for a medical timeout to receive painkillers at 4-3 up in the opener.



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'I was in a lot of pain. The treatment and the painkillers worked. I started to feel better as the match went on,' said the Swiss, who will next play another 30-year-old, Russian 26th seed Mikhail Youzhny.

'It was a shock for it to happen in the first set of a grand slam when you have to play five on grass. I thought I was in big trouble at 5-6 and he was serving for the first set. I apologized to Xavier for having to go off, but it was just a freak thing.'

The cool, wet conditions didn't help Federer's back, but he said he was glad that the Centre Court roof was not closed before he completed his win over the Belgian.

'I was happy they kept it open because it is an outdoor tournament at the end of the day. We don't want to play indoors all the time,' he said after extending his record against 2002 semifinalist Malisse to 10-1.

'It's not that big of a deal coming on and off. To see the referee coming out and inspecting the courts, that's the whole drama that belongs to Wimbledon. Eventually, if it's too bad and it's really raining, this is when you shut it.'

Youzhny had previously reached the fourth round on six occasions, including last year, but but went one step further this time as he beat Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin in a five-set match lasting more than four hours.

If third seed Federer gets past Youzhny, then he will next face world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who beat fellow Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-1 6-3 on Centre Court later Monday.

It was the friends' first meeting on grass, but defending champion Djokovic had no problems posting his 12th successive win over the 34th-ranked Troicki -- who might be his doubles partner at the London Olympics -- to reach his 13th consecutive major quarterfinal.

The 25-year-old will next face the winner of the match between French 18th seed Richard Gasquet or No. 31 Florian Mayer of Germany, who led 6-3 2-1 when play was halted earlier in the day on Court Three.

British fourth seed Andy Murray had won the first set to lead his last-16 clash with Croatia's Marin Cilic 7-5 3-1 when rain halted play on Court One, while France's world No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost his opening set against Mardy Fish as the American led 6-4 1-1 on Court Two.

The three delayed matches will resume on Tuesday, along with the two last-16 tiers that did not even start: Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer against Argentina's No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro, and unseeded American Brian Baker versus No. 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.

'It's not that big of a deal coming on and off. To see the referee coming out and inspecting the courts, that's the whole drama that belongs to Wimbledon. Eventually, if it's too bad and it's really raining, this is when you shut it.' Federer, who had to come from two sets down to defeat fellow 30-year-old Julien Benneteau on Friday, needed to call for a medical timeout to receive painkillers at 4-3 up in the opener. 'It was a shock for it to happen in the first set of a grand slam when you have to play five on grass. I thought I was in big trouble at 5-6 and he was serving for the first set. I apologized to Xavier for having to go off, but it was just a freak thing.' Federer, who had to come from two sets down to defeat fellow 30-year-old Julien Benneteau on Friday, needed to call for a medical timeout to receive painkillers at 4-3 up in the opener. 'I was in a lot of pain. The treatment and the painkillers worked. I started to feel better as the match went on,' said the Swiss, who will next play another 30-year-old, Russian 26th seed Mikhail Youzhny. 'It's not that big of a deal coming on and off. To see the referee coming out and inspecting the courts, that's the whole drama that belongs to Wimbledon. Eventually, if it's too bad and it's really raining, this is when you shut it.' The three delayed matches will resume on Tuesday, along with the two last-16 tiers that did not even start: Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer against Argentina's No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro, and unseeded American Brian Baker versus No. 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. 'It's not that big of a deal coming on and off. To see the referee coming out and inspecting the courts, that's the whole drama that belongs to Wimbledon. Eventually, if it's too bad and it's really raining, this is when you shut it.'

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