Andy Murray to Wimbledon win

Andy Murray bowed to Prince William and Kate Middleton today after reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a straight sets victory over Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

Wills and Kate, who got a standing ovation when they took their seats in the Royal Box before the match, helped cheer Andy to victory on Centre Court.

Murray turned in a strong performance, triumphing 7-6 6-3 6-2 in two hours four minutes, earning a standing ovation from the crowd - including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The British No.1 admitted afterwards that he didn't even know the royal couple were going to be at the match.

He said: "It was nice. I didn't know they would be there.

As I walked off the practice courts a journalist told me. I didn't practice the bow - I didn't know if my source was correct or if they were winding me up.

"I think it's great for tennis any time you can get royalty to come along."

Kate is becoming something of a Wimbledon regular.

In 2007 she watched Rafael Nadal play Swede Robin Soderling on Court One and returned 12 months later.

Still plain Catherine Middleton, she was given special treatment by the club, which arranged Centre Court tickets for her and assured her some peace and quiet.

Last week a letter she wrote thanking organisers for their hospitality was unveiled in the Wimbledon museum.

Today, the couple arrived amid tight security.

An increased police presence was visible around the grounds and a Metropolitan Police helicopter patrolled for hours before their arrival.

The pair, who married in April, returned to Centre Court after Murray's match to watch five-time ladies' champion Venus Williams take on Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova.

On Court One, Williams's sister and defending champion Serena was knocked out in straight sets by Marion Bartoli, who has reportedly claimed to have an IQ of 175 - putting her in the top 2% of the world's smartest.

Speaking after his five-star royal performance, Murray said he would have shaved if somebody had told him the royal couple were coming.

Appearing relaxed in the post-match press conference, the 24-year-old said he felt no extra pressure playing in front of William and Kate.

The British number one met the pair after his match but felt embarrassed looking so "sweaty and hairy", he said.

Venus Williams Out of Wimbledon 2011

Venus Williams followed sister Serena out of Wimbledon after her 6-2 6-3 defeat by Tsvetana Pironkova ended American involvement in the women's singles

Little over an hour after Serena had been sent tumbling out with a straight-sets defeat by Marion Bartoli, Venus was comprehensively outplayed by the Bulgarian 32nd seed.

It means this year will be the first since 2006 that neither Williams sister has won Wimbledon.

Five-time champion Venus was playing only her second tournament since withdrawing from the Australian Open with a hip injury and she was well short of her best today.

The repeat of last year's quarter-final resulted in an identical outcome as the highly-impressive Pironkova, 23, made light work of the fourth-round match.

Williams, who has reached at least the quarter-finals on 11 of her 14 previous visits to Wimbledon, struggled to find her range and was frequently foiled by the net.

Pironkova accounted for second seed Vera Zvonareva in the previous round and will next meet Petra Kvitova for a place in the last four - a remarkable run for a player who had won just four matches in 14 tournaments this year heading into Wimbledon.

The one-way traffic began in the first set when Williams' serve came under sustained attack in the sixth game and she crumbled after conceding a second break point.

Poor stroke selection from the American, making her 15th appearance at Wimbledon, allowed Pironkova to produce a stinging passing shot that was returned into the net.

Pironkova was trading on equal terms from the baseline and made light work of her next service game to move 5-2 ahead.

Hoping to find refuge on her own serve, Williams instead fell to pieces as she conceding three break points, the third of which she directed into the net.

The problems continued to mount early in the second set for Williams, who was being cheered on by all-time great Billie Jean King, as Pironkova broke once more.

The net emerged as the American's chief tormentor as it came to Pironkova's rescue on two occasions and the Wimbledon exit beckoned for the 23rd seed.

Athletic and composed, Pironkova looked in complete control until a glimmer of hope appeared for Williams in the fifth game with a vicious backhand establishing break point.

The game was proving a key battleground in the set and Williams rose to the occasion, wasting the first chance to break but capitalising on a second by outgunning her opponent from the baseline.

The respite was short-lived, however, and Williams only had herself to blame as she made a series of errors to enable Pironkova to break back immediately.

Two big serves and a sensational backhand passing shot dug Pironkova out of trouble in the seventh.

Three match points followed in the ninth and Pironkova excelled during the second, firing a lightning serve and forehand winner to close out her triumph.

Serena Williams During 2011 Wimbledon Championship

Beyoncé will not get away with a 45 minute set when she headlines Glastonbury tonight.

Kelly Smith will not be playing 30 minutes each way in England's opening game of the womens' football World Cup, against Mexico tomorrow.

Tennis is a little different.

Men and women have the same prize money, but different shift patterns.

Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and top seed Caroline Wosniacki, leading contenders for Wimbledon's £1.1million winners' cheque, each lost precisely five games yesterday.

It may be politically incorrect to support the august members of the All england Club's order of Play Committee, but they have a point.

In terms of entertainment, the womens' game lacks natural rivalries, compelling storylines, and recognisable names.

Complaints about lack of exposure on Wimbledon's show courts do not really stack up.

Ironically, those rallying behind the mildewed flags of past sex discrimination battles are doing Serena a disservice.

The diversion unintentionally belittles her spirit, the resolve required to win a third successive Wimbledon singles title after a 49-week absence.

The background to her attempt, which gathered momentum with a 6-3 6-2 win over maria Kirilenko, is no less compelling for its sudden familiarity.

Two scars, a blemish on the inside of her left foot, and an ugly weal across the top of her right, are the legacy from an accident in a munich restaurant, four days after Wimbledon last year.

Two operations followed, but were not as remotely traumatic as the "near death experience" of finding blood clots on both lungs.

Serena must still inject herself with anti-coagulant before any flight.

even operating at 60 per cent capacity, she has the athleticism, self-belief, and strength of serve to make her a legitimate contender.

She said: "I wouldn't bet against me. I'm here, I'm alive, and I don't take any moment for granted."

Her serve was, on average 20 mph faster than that of Kirilenko, an identikit russian making her eighth Wimbledon appearance at the ripe old age of 24. The ball sounds so much crisper when it leaves her racquet. once Serena acquires match sharpness, it will be all over for the ovas.

She has won 13 Grand Slam titles, only two fewer than the other 127 members of the original draw.

Apart from the Williams sisters, Sharapova is the only active member of the WTA tour to have won Wimbledon.

She's a mini corporation, with annual income of £20m.

Nice work if you can get it, when the likes of Klara Zakopalova, beaten 6-2 6-3 yesterday, do not detain her unduly.

Wozniacki was similarly untroubled against Jarmila Gajdosova. The Centre Court provided the statutory standing ovation - but this was in honour of servicemen, sitting in the royal box.

The search for other heroines is similarly dispiriting.

Victoria Azarenka, the fourth seed, is apparently big in Minsk. She has an inconsistent serve and sounds like Minnie Mouse succumbing to torture.

It doesn't take much imagination to envisage Serena and Venus facing each other in Saturday's final, for the third time in four years.

Serena's vulnerability - the tears and the tenderness with which she treated cancer victim Jack marshall earlier in the week - has not given her universal popularity.

But, as Marion Bartoli, her fourth-round opponent, admitted "she is the ultimate competitor." Almost too good, in fact for her sport.