LONDON, 30 June 2004 — Wimbledon’s teenage upstarts were upstaged by the stolid establishment of women’s tennis yesterday as the old guard stamped their mark on the championships.

Holder and top seed Serena Williams and fellow former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport both swatted teenagers aside while Jennifer Capriati stomped on young Russian Nadia Petrova.

But 17-year-old Siberian sensation Maria Sharapova bucked the trend, beating Japanese 11th seed Ai Sugiyama 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 to reach the semifinals of a grand slam for the first time.

The 13th seed, left out of the Russian Fed Cup team earlier on Tuesday, said: “This moment ... I am speechless, really... I always wanted to play on Centre Court but never thought about reaching the semifinals.”

She will face 1999 champion and fifth seed Davenport in the last four after the 28-year-old American thrashed Croatian teenager Karolina Sprem 6-2, 6-2.

Rain delays earlier in the tournament meant the top half of the draw were a round behind, playing to reach the quarters, and Serena meted out the most one-sided scoreline of the day.

The twice champion flattened 16-year-old French girl Tatiana Golovin 6-2, 6-1 to reach the last eight.

Serena pummeled the fastest serve ever by a woman at Wimbledon — a 126 miles per hour (202.8 kph) scorcher — and gave Golovin the runaround from the start. But still she felt she could have done better.

“I really didn’t think I played well today,” she mused. “I thought I didn’t do some things that I wanted to do, so... I don’t know. I guess I can’t complain too much, huh?”

Golovin claimed she had been neither overawed nor overpowered and that next time she would beat Serena, although how much of that can be put down to 16-year-old bravado is debatable.

“I thought I was going to be a little bit more nervous than I was, but I felt really good out there,” she said. “I played well. Playing Serena ... of course, beating her for the first time, would be really amazing. But I’ll do it next time. I’m getting used to the big courts.”

However, it will take more than a familiarity with the world’s showcourts to enable Golovin to beat Serena. Someone with a much better chance of wrestling Serena’s crown from her is Jennifer Capriati, the fellow American who beat her in the quarterfinals of the French Open last month and who plays her in the quarters here next.

Capriati swatted aside Russia’s 10th seed Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-4 in the fourth round.

“First, I served well and returned well enough, just solid,” she said. “I just played solid. You know, I just tried to keep the balls long, deep. And then also I did mix it up.

“I think I just hung in there pretty good and did everything just a little bit better and really was just more solid out there.”

Also in the top half French fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo moved into the quarters, outfoxing Italy’s Silvia Farina Elia 7-5, 6-3.

She will face Paola Suarez next after the Argentine beat Italy’s Rita Grande.

Champions Meet in Clash of Styles

Roger Federer’s free-flowing tennis must blast its way though solid rock yesterday as the Wimbledon champion runs into the man whose crown he inherited in an explosive clash of styles.

Federer, the silky, stylish Swiss, is the favorite to prevail but Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt loves nothing more than spoiling the party — and he has won eight of the pair’s 12 previous meetings.

Certainly Federer knows he is in for a battle.

“Yeah, well, for sure a very tough match,” he said. “I’m going to play a player who’s got a lot of experience. “Lleyton will be extremely tough because he won here in the past. Everybody knows what great matches we had.”

Although Hewitt has won two-thirds of their matches so far, Federer has won the two most recent — at the Australian Open en route to the title and on Hamburg clay last month.

He is in spectacular form and has not had his serve broken all tournament.

“I have to say every match so far on grass has been, you know, quite unbelievable,” he said.

“I’ve always played great tennis. There’s not a match where I remember I’ve played bad tennis and came through. I always played very good.

“I think this is good looking ahead to the tournament because from here on only tough opponents will come my way.”

They do not come any tougher than Hewitt who imposed on Federer a heartbreaking five-set defeat from two sets down in the Davis Cup semifinals last year. He knows he can beat Federer and is determined to do so.

“Yeah, I believe I can beat him,” the seventh seed said. “You know, it’s going to be an extremely tough match. He’s the best player out there at the moment. “Yeah, he’s No. 1 in the world for a reason. And, you know, he’s going through the draw pretty convincingly at the moment.

“So I’m the underdog for sure. But I believe in my ability, and I’ve played well enough against him in the past. “At the Australian Open, I felt like I had a lot of chances. I felt like really the first set and a half, I was a better player.

“But he’s an extremely good player. When he gets on that run, he’s very hard to stop. You know, I’ll try and hang in there anyway.”

Tim Henman will act as Federer and Hewitt’s warm-up act on Center Court.

The Briton, hoping to become the first home-grown man in 68 years to win the singles, takes on Croatian Mario Ancic. Victory will see Henman into his fifth Wimbledon semifinal — he has never reached the final.

In other men’s matches Andy Roddick and Sjeng Schalken clash while Sebastien Grosjean meets Florian Mayer.

Two women’s quarterfinals are also scheduled at the All England Club.