June 28, 2008

AUSTRALIA'S Casey Dellacqua bowed out of Wimbledon in the third round with a 6-2 6-4 defeat to Czech Nicole Vaidisova, the No.18 seed.

Dellacqua, 43rd in the world rankings, was the second Australian to be knocked out by Vaidisova, who had beaten Sam Stosur in the previous round and who now plays Anna Chakvetadze, the No.8 seed.

The 23-year-old's exit ended Australia's presence in the women's singles before the end of the first week.

Six months after reaching the fourth round at Australian Open, Dellacqua was unable to repeat that feat.

But she can still be relatively satisfied after claiming a first Wimbledon win by shocking 12th seed Patty Schnyder in the first round.

Dellacqua said: "I thought I could put pressure on her after the rain-break but I can't have any complaints. I'll go back to Australia when I've finished in the doubles here and get ready for the hard court season and the Olympics.''

Vaidisova hailed the impact of her new coach, Britain's David Felgate, as she recovers from a woeful run of six successive first round exits earlier this year.

"I definitely played a great match,'' she said.

"I've made some changes in my team, a new coach. The changes needed some time.

"It doesn't come overnight, so I'm happy it's paying off and I'm showing some progress.''

Dellacqua got off to the worst possible start as she was broken in the first game after an over-rule from the umpire on break point.

The occasional booming winner from the Perth-based left-hander counted for little when she too often produced careless unforced errors as well.

She couldn't convert a break point at 2-3 and that was as close as she came to getting back into the match.

Vaidisova, a graceful yet sometimes unpredictable performer, easily took the first set in 23 minutes.

She kept the pressure on in the second set and broke for 3-2 lead before a lengthy rain delay at 4-3 gave Dellacqua a final chance to regroup.

But when the players finally re-emerged, Vaidisova held serve twice to see out the win.