Venus Williams prevailed in the battle of the former champions, defeating 2004 winner Maria Sharapova 6-1 6-3.

Justine Henin came through a bruising encounter with Serena Williams to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon 6-4 3-6 6-3.

Bartoli reached her first Grand Slam semi-final with victory over Michaella Krajicek 3-6 6-3 6-2.

Rafael Nadal said that Wimbledon officials "did not think about the players" after his rain-interrupted win over Robin Soderling. The pair had begun with the knock-up on Saturday evening, enduring seven rain breaks across five days, before Nadal won 6-4 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 4-6 7-5.

Novak Djokovic beat Nicolas Kiefer in the final third-round match 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 7-6 (7-5).

Third seed Andy Roddick completed a rain-interrupted win over Paul-Henri Mathieu on Centre Court on Wednesday 6-2 7-5 7-6 (8-6)

He will play Richard Gasquet, who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4 6-3 6-4.