McEnroe attacks SW19 bunglers

He said: "They should have put Rafael Nadal first on yesterday and when the sun's been out they haven't played. It's been a bungling of scheduling here."

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Under a cloud: a storm brews over Court No3 as Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova attempt to play their fourth-round match last night

Wimbledon is heading into a third week but referee Andrew Jarrett has decided not to start play on the showcourts until noon today.

He also defended switching the women's fourth-round match between Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams back to Centre Court even though it started last night on Court No3.

"There is a protocol for moving matches like this," he said.

"People have mentioned players competing in two matches in a day but that is something we would fight against."

Nadal, still to finish his third-round match against Robin Soderling, which was due to have been played on Saturday, is facing the prospect of having to win five matches in as many days to deny Roger Federer a fifth consecutive title.

Hewitt: Rain is my toughest opponent

Lleyton Hewitt finally took his place in the fourth round with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Guillermo Canas and admitted it was one of the toughest games of his career.

Although the Australian 16th seed was only on court for two hours 44 minutes, a spate of rain breaks meant the match, due to start on Saturday, did not conclude until just before 5pm.

"That was the longest, toughest rain-delayed match I have ever had to put up with," said Hewitt after defeating the 22nd seed.

"To go on and off so many times, it was a mental battle more than anything.

"This is how you win majors. It's not getting frustrated with the situation. Whatever hand you're dealt, you got to deal with it. I felt like I handled it exceptionally well."

Hewitt still does not know who he will face as Novak Djokovic and Nicolas Keifer have yet to finish their third round match, which stands at one-set all.

The problems caused by the rain meant only Hewitt, sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko and former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero made any real progress yesterday.

Davydenko beat Gael Monfils 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 to set up a fourth-round match with 10th seed Marcos Baghdatis, while Ferrero booked a quarter-final clash with Roger Federer after beating Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 6-3, 7-6.

World No1 Federer has not played since Friday, having been given a bye following Tommy Haas's withdrawl through injury. Ferrero, though, is not worried about meeting the refreshed champion.

"I'm confident and I have nothing to lose," said the Spaniard. "He's human and has a racket the same as me so I will try everything."