Shahar Peer beats Safina to advance to 4th round at Wimbledon
Israeli beats Russian world no. 9 in dramatic three sets to advance beyond third round at London tennis tournament for first time in her career
Israel's top female tennis player Shahar Peer beat Russia's Dinara Safina 7-5 6-7 8-6 on Saturday to advance to Wimbledon's fourth round for the first time in her career.
Peer came back in dramatic fashion to beat Safina, the French Open finalist, after trailing 3:5 in the third and deciding set.
In a topsy-turvy contest featuring angry outbursts, medical timeouts and code violations, Safina, ranked ninth in the world, saved match points - at 5-4 down in the second set and 6-5 down in the decider.
Peer in action against Safina (Photo: Tom Dolev)
Hobbling around with a painful thigh, Safina eventually limped out on Peer's fourth match point, falling after three hours and 25 minutes with a tame double fault.
Next up for Peer will be another Russian, Elena Dementieva (ranked fifth in the world), who squandered a match point against Safina in the Paris quarter-finals.
Also on Saturday, Israel's Andy Ram and his French partner Nathalie Dechy advanced to the fourth round of Wimbledon's mixed doubles competition after beating the British duo of Jamie Delgado and Katie O'brien 6:4 6:0.
Ram and Dechy won the mixed doubles title at the French Open in 2007.
Reuters contributed to the report
