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Aussie wins again Rafter continues strong play on grass
Posted: Saturday July 01, 2000 12:41 PM
WIMBLEDON, England (Reuters) -- An irritated Patrick Rafter booked his place in the fourth round of Wimbldon by dispatching Germany's Rainer Schuttler 6-2 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 on Saturday. The twelfth seed was unhappy with the "let" machine on Court One and complained to the umpire about the accuracy of the device when he was serving at 4-3, 15-0 in the final set. Thinking the serve was incorrectly called "let" by the service-reading machine, Rafter shouted: "This is a kick serve for God's sake. Turn the bloody machine off." After the match Rafter said: "I'm deaf in one ear so I find it hard to hear the lets anyway but that serve was a big kicking serve and cleared the net by at least a meter." "Maybe I'm missing something but the machine kept on bleeping throughout for no reason at all." Distractions aside, the dual U.S. Open champion was in commanding form during the match and claimed the opening set in just 22 minutes after breaking Schuttler twice and dropping only six points on his own serve. The 24-year-old German fought bravely in the second set, often outclassing Rafter in the rallies, but was unable to stop Rafter from racing away with the tiebreak. "I served and volleyed well, especially on the big points and took most of the chances that came my way," said Rafter. "I feel I have a good chance to win here. Now that I'm playing good tennis my chances are going up everyday." The Australian -- a semifinalist here last year -- broke Schuttler's serve to win the match on his third match point. His next opponent will be either Thomas Johansson or Magnus Gustafsson, both unseeded and both Swedes.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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