(REUTERS) – Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun sprang the biggest shock of the tournament when he stunned last year’s runner-up and fifth seed Andy Roddick 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 9-7 in the fourth round at Wimbledon. Roddick, who lost last year’s final in an epic last set 16-14 to Roger Federer, looked poised for a regulation win when he took the opening set with a single break in 39 minutes.
But Lu kept his focus and won tiebreaks 7-3 and 7-4 to put Roddick under pressure.
And although the American took it to a decider the Taiwanese won through when he fired a forehand winner past the three-time finalist after four hours and 36 minutes.
Lu became the first Asian man to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam since Japan’s Shuzo Matsuoka in 1995.
He will play third seed Novak Djokovic, after the Serb shook off a stomach ache and a typical charge from Australian Lleyton Hewitt to win their fourth-round encounter 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
The Serb, who looked to be coasting to victory with a two-set lead, had to call the doctor after complaining he felt sick and needed all his resilience to see off the 2002 champion in two hours and 54 minutes on Court One.
In the first set, they were level-pegging all the way to the 12th game when the dogged Australian finally folded under pressure from Djokovic, who broke on the only break point of the set.
Hewitt’s concentration cracked in the 10th game of the second set with a missed smash and a double fault giving Djokovic the chance he eagerly seized to take a 2-0 lead.
Then the first signs of Djokovic’s frailty came in the third set, calling for the doctor and complaining that he felt sick.
Antacid tablets failed to do the trick and the lethargic Serb tamely surrendered the set. Hewitt’s tail was up, he was ready for a fight.
But Djokovic shook off his malaise in an engrossing fourth set where they both lost a serve apiece, breaking Hewitt again to take a 5-4 lead and serving out for victory.
He sealed a fist-pumping triumph with a ripping crosscourt forehand before stripping off and hurling his shirt into the crowd.
Six-time champion Roger Federer showed a ruthless streak against one of his best friends on tour when he destroyed Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
Federer, who had never faced Melzer at senior level before, produced his full array of wonderful touches and rock-solid serving on Centre Court in sharp contrast to his stuttering performances in the opening two rounds.
Melzer, who succeeded Federer as the Wimbledon Boys’ champion in 1999, recovered from 3-0 down in the opener by breaking the Swiss serve, but it was to be his only success as Federer swept through in an hour and 24 minutes when the Austrian sliced a backhand long.
He will play Czech 12th seed Tomas Berdych for a place in the semi-finals, after the French Open semi-finalist bounced back from dropping the first set to beat unseeded German Daniel Brands 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-5, 6-3.
World number one Rafael Nadal was back at his aggressive best after two five-set matches earlier in the tournament when he crushed unseeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
Nadal, the 2008 champion who could not defend his title last year because of a knee problem, failed to let a drunken fan who had to be led away by police or a back injury to Mathieu distract him from a quick-fire win.
The Frenchman, who called for an injury time-out while trailing 5-2 in the second set, simply did not possess the weapons to dent Nadal’s game and suffered his 10th successive defeat to the world number one after exactly two hours of play.
He will play Swedish sixth seed Robin Soderling, the man he beat in the French Open final earlier this month, for a place in the last four.
Soderling came through his first real test of the Wimbledon fortnight when he beat Spanish ninth seed David Ferrer 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
The sixth seed had yet to drop a set and had spent the least time on court of all the men left in the draw, and he seemed in no mood to hang around when he won the first set 6-2 and was 3-1 up in the second.
But Ferrer had other ideas and took the second set with two breaks of serve, causing the tall Swede to snap his racquet with his foot in frustration, much to the surprise of the crowd on a packed Court 12.
Soderling seemed back on track for a first appearance in the quarter-finals against nemesis Rafael Nadal or France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu, comfortably winning the third set even though he took a medical break at 4-1 up.
This time it was Ferrer who took his frustration out on his racquet, smashing it into his bag as the players walked to their chairs at the end of the set.
A packed audience on the small showcourt watched the dramatic tug-of-war unfold as the two players slugged it out from the baseline with only the occasional foray to the net.
A resurgent Ferrer took the match into a decider and forced French Open finalist Soderling to endure a nervous few moments at 5-4 and 15-30 down on his serve.
Two big serves from the Swede made it 40-30 and although his opponent took the game to deuce, Soderling held on.
He then broke Ferrer and the match finally ended when the Spaniard sent a service return long after three hours and three minutes.