Mauresmo bows out

The 18-year-old Czech maintained her concentration in a delayed fourth-round match on Centre Court which was interrupted three times by rain and finished in fast-falling drizzle.

Mauresmo was in generous mood just two days before her 28th birthday, gifting her young opponent 37 unforced errors in a scrappy performance which matched the miserable weather. Vaidisova showed touches of class in a 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-1 win that takes her through to the quarter-finals for the first time at her third attempt.

This will go down as a surprise result but Vaidisova's victory was her third in a row against the former world number one, who has been struggling with a leg injury for much of the year. Mauresmo had dropped just 10 games in her first three matches but found her match in the 6ft Czech, who bears a striking resemblance to Daniella Hantuchova and plays like Maria Sharapova.

With both players struggling to find their rhythm, there were six breaks of serve in an untidy first set which eventually went to a tie-break. Vaidisova came from 0-3 down to take the tie-break 8-6 and began to impose herself in a second set punctuated by two rain breaks.

She lost the second set against the run of play and visibly lifted her game to a new level in the decider. A wild backhand from Mauresmo gifted her a crucial break in the second game and the Czech held her game together to open up a 3-0 lead.

It was the first time more than two games had separated the pair in the match and the gap quickly became unbridgeable. Mauresmo held serve in another closely-contested fourth game with the aid of a 12th ace but she lost it completely in the sixth game, producing two more double faults to take her total in the match to 14.

The French girl then produced a poorly executed drop shot on break point and showed her frustration by slamming the ball into the crowd, an act of petulance which cost her a code violation.

She was quickly put out of her misery, however, with Vaidisova serving out to clinch victory in a match that spanned almost four hours, of which two hours 20 minutes were spent on court.