All the quarterfinal matchups for both singles competitions are now set at the All-England Club. The round of eight has acquired a very unique composition in the ladies’ and gentlemen’s draws, but that doesn’t mean the occasion will be any less meaningful for the participants involved. Some members of the 2009 “Quarterfinal Club” at SW19 are bona fide title contenders, while others have a puncher’s chance at making history, and still others are ready to accept their quarterfinalist’s check and be grateful they’ve advanced this far. Want to separate the contenders, floaters and pretenders? Today, we start with the ladies, before dealing with the gentlemen’s field tomorrow.

Women’s Quarterfinals -All Matches on Tuesday

Top Half of Draw

(1) Dinara Safina vs. Sabine Lisicki; (3) Venus Williams vs (11) Agnieszka Radwanska

Safina might be the No. 1 player in women’s tennis, but the Russian is making her first-ever appearance in a Wimbledon quarterfinal. Having acknowledged that she’s playing with tendonitis, the 23-year-old–who had to overcome a 3-0 third-set deficit to nip Amelie Mauresmo on Monday–simply isn’t operating at the level of proficiency needed to win the crown jewel of tennis. Admire Safina’s fight, but the French Open runner-up will be hard pressed to do much from this point forward. Safina: PRETENDER.

Lisicki will be playing in her first Wimbledon quarterfinal as well, in a match that will double as the German’s first-ever slam quarterfinal. Nerves will be hard to overcome for this 19-year-old flamethrower, who can hammer first serves as well as the Williams sisters, the ultimate exemplars of what analyst Mary Carillo refers to as “big-babe tennis.” Lisicki owns the talent of a future Grand Slam champion, and she might be able to hit her way past Safina in the quarters. As long as Venus and Serena are still around, however, it’s very difficult to imagine Lisicki staging a pair of palace revolts in front of the royal box on Centre Court. Lisicki: FLOATER.

Venus Williams wobbled ever so slightly in the second set of her third-round triumph over Spain’s Carla Suarez-Navarro, but that episode was far more a hiccup than a clear sign of worry. Venus owns five of the Wimbledon trophies that bear her first name (the Venus Rosewater Dish), and while her sister will present an imposing presence in a potential final, the 29-year-old is an overwhelming favorite to advance to Saturday’s showdown from the top half of the draw. You can’t win a championship without advancing to the title match itself, and Venus–who is closing in on her eighth finals appearance at the Big W in the past 10 years–knows how to pass through the pressure of quarterfinal and semifinal situations. Venus: CONTENDER.

Radwanska is putting together a quietly solid tournament. The native of Poland hasn’t done anything spectacular in suburban London–she avoided meeting sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round, and faced 17-year-0ld newcomer Melanie Oudin instead. Nevertheless, the kid from Krakow has beaten the opponents that have been placed in front of her. Radwanska has never gone past the quarterfinals at a slam; accordingly, the Polish product hasn’t attained a WTA ranking any higher than ninth. A quarterfinal is a terrific result at a major tournament; one shouldn’t think, though, that a semifinal appearance is in the cards for this 20-year-old in 2009. Radwanska: PRETENDER.

Bottom Half of Draw

Francesca Schiavone vs. (4) Elena Dementieva; (8) Victoria Azarenka vs. (2) Serena Williams

Schiavone has been coming to Grand Slam tournaments as a main-draw singles participant since 2000. Yet, the Italian entered SW19 having reached just two quarterfinals in 35 prior appearances at majors. This quarterfinal marks her third such result, and her first at the All-England Club. Ranked 43rd and bereft of a particularly powerful weapon, Schiavone wins with guile and savvy, a reality borne out by her performances in the first four rounds at Wimbledon. Schiavone is 4-0 in tiebreaks, a glowing record any hardened tennis pro would covet; the 29-year-old needed to win two of them in the same match, a second-rounder against shrieking teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal. If she can reach even one tiebreak in her upcoming match against Dementieva, Schiavone should consider herself fortunate. Merely getting to that point–in sets and matches alike–will be hard to pull off for a player who has already exceeded expectations to a considerable degree. Schiavone: PRETENDER.

Dementieva is, quite simply, the best women’s tennis player never to have won a major (with Safina, her countrywoman, being a close second). For this reason, the 27-year-old must be accorded a certain amount of respect. She’s not quite a pretender, because she rates as an overwhelming favorite to advance to the Wimbledon semis for a second straight year, and to her fourth slam semifinal in her last five appearances. Yet, it also remains that Dementieva’s ceiling usually arrives in the semis of slams, where she’s 2-4 in her career, and winless since 2004. Dementieva: FLOATER.

Azarenka, the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open champion, owns an eye-popping record of 36-6 this season, second in winning percentage to Safina’s mark of 41-8. Given her ability to play Serena Williams on even terms, the 19-year-old has to be viewed as a potential heiress to the throne. One big match would put Azarenka on the cusp of a Grand Slam title that is likely to grace her trophy case before too long. Azarenka: CONTENDER.

Serena Williams, owner of a not-too-shabby 29-7 record to date in 2009, is the best closer in her sport. Justine Henin had battled the younger Williams sister for the top (unofficial) position in women’s tennis, but once the Belgian retired, Serena had the stage to herself. Sister Venus is the queen of Wimbledon, but this 27-year-old–who has won 10 slams compared to Venus’s total of seven–can be counted on to deliver the goods at any major tournament. If she’s not in the final against her sibling, Serena will view this Wimbledon as a colossal failure. Serena: CONTENDER.

Unlike the 2009 French Open final, Robin Soderling played his best tennis on Monday against Roger Federer in the fourth round of Wimbledon.

Sadly for the Swede, it didn’t matter one bit.

Showing the fabulous form that eluded him against Federer in Paris, Soderling blistered the ball and kept it inside the lines for most of the afternoon at famed Centre Court. Playing like the man who won six matches at Roland Garros before faltering in the final round, Soderling reaffirmed his newfound status as a title contender on the ATP Tour after many years of underachieving at major events. Yet, all the 13th seed received in exchange for his high-level slugging was an improbable straight-set defeat and a ticket out of England.

Federer–never dominant but supremely opportunistic–made the most of a few precious chances by stealing three sets that had all the predictability of a coin flip. On a day when he claimed just 51 percent of all the points he contested, the No. 2 seed from Switzerland claimed a 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) win in less than two hours to advance to the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

It’s hard to believe that a match defined by such forceful swings of the racket ended so quickly. In boxing, Soderling and Federer would have lasted 15 rounds, going the distance and leaving fans breathless until the final bell. In tennis, however, scoring big is achieved in a different manner; winning the right clusters of points in key moments can take an even-steven affair and turn it into a supremely deceptive straight-setter, and that’s what happened in this fourth-round fistfight.

Through the first eight games of the first set–as would be the case for other stretches of the afternoon–Soderling put Federer on the defensive and kept the Swiss in a fundamentally reactive position. Bludgeoning the ball from the baseline and thumping his first serve consistently, the Swede coasted on his service games while Federer struggled at times. For all of Soderling’s power, however, the man standing across the net–a five-time Wimbledon champion–found the timely serves and mental resources needed to forge a 4-all tie.

After Federer stayed in the fight, the Swede would begin to throw a few errant punches, and that’s when the worm turned on the most famous piece of grass in sports.

Soderling’s one patchy service game in set one was the one game that cost him dearly. The ninth game of the first set witnessed a clear show of nerves from the underdog, who began to spray his forehand long and wide. Soderling did fend off two break points with considerable composure, but the Swede couldn’t stay in a rally on Federer’s third break opportunity. Given a 5-4 lead, Federer promptly uncorked a typical combination of aces and service winners–the Swiss had 23 aces on the day–to tuck away the first set in a manner Pete Sampras would have recognized.

Sampras–tied with Fed for the most Grand Slam singles titles of any male tennis player–would often come to Wimbledon and win sets by protecting his serve and pouncing on one golden break chance late in a set. Federer mimicked that pattern in the first stanza, and while Soderling continued to hit big and fight fearlessly as the match continued, a familiar template was established for the Swiss.

In the second set, Federer actually lost more points than he won (35-34), but again, the 14-time major titlist won the points that really mattered–specifically, the final two. After 12 service games and 10 tiebreak points decided absolutely nothing in set two (6 games all, 5-all in the breaker), Federer hammered an ace for 6-5 and then snatched an unlikely two-set lead when Soderling lost a forehand long. The Swede, playing near–if not at–the height of his own personal powers, dueled a legendary opponent on even terms… and found himself with nothing to show for it heading into set three. Despite his deceptively large scoreboard deficit, the 13th seed would continue to keep pace with Federer, but just the same, the Swiss superstar would own the relevant answer in moments of truth.

After 12 more break-free service games and nine more tiebreak points, Soderling had the third set on his racket at 5-4 with two serves and a mini-break in hand. But just when the Centre Court crowd might have had a right to expect a fourth set, Federer once again pushed the Swede off the ledge. A dazzling cross-court running forehand allowed Federer to level the breaker at 5-all, guaranteeing the Swiss at least one more serve. Knowing he had to win the 5-all point if he wanted to stay on court, a nervous Soderling double-faulted. The lapse was extremely rare, but as this match proved from start to finish, one lapse on one point was all it took to decide three separate sets. Gifted with a match point in a battle that felt like a five-setter, given its statistical evenness, Federer didn’t blow the opportunity. A solid first serve gained the Swiss the leverage he needed to advance to yet another Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Robin Soderling jokingly said after the French Open final that “no one beats Robin Soderling 11 times in a row,” a nod to Federer’s 10-0 career record against the Swede heading into Monday’s match. Evidently, Soderling was wrong, but it’s just as important to note that after an exhibition of mortal combat that took place on the razor’s edge, this swingin’ Swede is coming ever closer to toppling the fabled Federer. That reality is, in one sense, quite encouraging for the man who has transformed his career over the past month, but then again, moral victories don’t count for much between the white lines on gamedays. It’s Roger Federer who’s in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, thanks to the big-point brilliance that has defined the past five years of awesome and otherworldly tennis.

While Venus Williams enjoys a heaven-sent draw in the top half of the ladies’ singles bracket at Wimbledon, the bottom half of the draw is about to have its heavyweight encounter.

On the best day of the entire tennis calendar–when every round of 16 match is played in both the ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles fields – the biggest story to emerge from the WTA side of The Championships was the formalization of a quality quarterfinal matchup: Victoria Azarenka versus Serena Williams. The eighth-seeded Azarenka labored past 10th-rated Nadia Petrova, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3, in 145 minutes on Court 3, while Serena coasted through her fourth-round encounter, demolishing unseeded Daniela Hantuchova, 6-3, 6-1, in a tidy 56 minutes on Court 2.

The excitement surrounding Azarenka-Williams is justified for a number of reasons. First of all, the schedule at Wimbledon puts the ladies’ quarterfinals on Tuesday, just one day after the extravaganza of “Fourth Round Monday.” With no men’s matches stealing any publicity from the elites in women’s tennis, Azarenka and Serena will have the big stage all to themselves, and it’s appropriate that the Centre Court spotlight should fall so fully on these two hard-hitting powerhouses.

Serena, to be sure, enjoys the far more decorated career, a resume graced by 10 Grand Slam championships and numerous other scalps from more than a decade spent in the salt mines of the WTA Tour. With that having been said, Azarenka possesses the spunk and tenacity needed to trade punches with the greatest active player in women’s tennis. Recent matches between the two foes indicate as much.

At the Australian Open in January, Azarenka swiped the first set from Serena in the fourth round of the tournament, before a series of dizzy spells forced the 19-year-old Belorussian to retire while trailing in the second set. Serena did go on to win the title in Melbourne, but the American superstar couldn’t deny the fact that this teenager from Central Europe outhit her for most of that afternoon Down Under.

In April, Azarenka gained revenge in the finals of the Sony Ericsson Open. With Serena’s legs heavily wrapped up, the American was barely able to move toward the end of the proceedings. Nevertheless, a fitter, finer Azarenka never lost sight of the ball… or the finish line. Blocking out any and all distractions, the young woman who has been mentored and encouraged in recent years by Chicago Blackhawks NHL goalie Nikolai Khabibulin displayed the dialed-in determination of a Stanley Cup champion. Pounding serves and drilling groundstrokes, Azarenka seized the jugular against her wounded opponent, polishing off Serena, 6-3, 6-1, for the biggest title of her burgeoning career.

This Wimbledon quarterfinal represents something of a grudge match for these residents of the top 10. Both women have lost to the other, due in large part to physical deficiencies. Both women have shown the ability to dictate play from the baseline and impose their will on the other. Serena–as a result of her championship credentials and major tournament experience–will carry a clear edge into combat on Tuesday, but Azarenka owns the artillery that can turn the Serena’s seasoned swagger into an irrelevant issue.

With floaters and surprises such as Francesca Schiavone, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Sabine Lisicki populating the round of eight in the ladies’ singles field, prime-time tilts are few and far between. When Victoria Azarenka stares down Serena Williams on “Ladies’ Day” at Wimbledon, fans of women’s tennis will get at least one sexy showdown before Saturday’s grand finale.

Remember what was said yesterday about the elusiveness of consistency in women’s tennis? Saturday’s play at the All England Club only affirmed the theme.

Shortly after sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic got taken out by no-name American Melanie Oudin, fifth-rated Svetlana Kuznetsova–the reigning French Open champion–succumbed to the firepower of Germany’s Sabine Lisicki. Unseeded but quite dangerous, Lisicki used her own brand of big-babe tennis–mixed with the occasional drop shot–to overwhelm her more credentialed opponent. A decisive 6-2, 7-5 third-round triumph carries Lisicki into the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career. When the fourth round commences on Monday, Lisicki will face ninth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki–yes, the same woman Lisicki defeated two months ago in Charleston, South Carolina, for her only WTA Tour title.

When Jankovic lost to an unheard of 17-year-old, the responsibility for the outcome rested to a considerable degree on the Serb’s own shoulders. Melanie Oudin earned everything she received, but Jankovic’s lack of fitness and conditioning clearly played a substantial part in her own undoing. Lisicki’s swatting of Sveta, on the other hand, was more a product of the winner’s level of quality: The German won the third-round match more than the Russian lost it.

While ranking as a notably significant event in its own right, this match on Court 1 wasn’t nearly as much of a surprise as Jankovic-Oudin. When Lisicki powered past Wozniacki to win in Charleston, WTA watchers could see that this 19-year-old possessed the toolbox of skills compatible with an imposing grass-court game. Lisicki might have hit only 4 aces in this match, against 8 double faults, but whenever the German did get her first serve in play, she dominated, winning a stellar 80 percent of her first-serve points. Kuznetsova, by contrast, won just 56 percent of her first-serve points and could never feel comfortable when toeing the service line.

The tone of this match was established at the very beginning, and then maintained to its conclusion. Plainly put, Lisicki’s nerves would occasionally creep into the picture, but the German was able to right the ship just when she began to teeter. Kuznetsova broke the 19-year-old in the first game of the match, but Lisicki was able to promptly respond and thereby calm her mind. If she had fallen behind 2-0 in the opening set, Lisicki could have remained tenative and unsure, but the positive reaction to an immediate deficit allowed her to play at a generally high level. Smoking her serves at an average speed of 109 miles per hour–far more “ghitty up” than most players on tour (the Williams sisters being the exceptions)–Lisicki got the fifth seed on the defensive and kept her there. In little more than one hour, the German had amassed a commanding 6-2, 5-2 lead. The Kooze was set to lose by a wide margin, due partly to her own flat performance, but mostly because her teenage counterpart was able to deliver the goods.

Just then, however, the nerves that affected the underdog re-entered the equation against the woman who lifted the championship trophy in Paris just three weeks ago.

While Kuznetsova refused to quit, Lisicki–so close to the finish line–began to think about the moment and lost the free-flowing form that carried her to a huge scoreboard advantage. Serving for the match at 5-3, Lisicki’s imposing serve was broken for the first time in the second set; with Kuznetsova then serving at 4-5, Lisicki had a break point that doubled as a match point, but the German couldn’t pounce on a second-serve opportunity, and the French Open champ held for 5-all. What looked to be a runaway turned into a tense affair, but the realization of an extended swordfight evidently allowed Lisicki to regain focus on her tennis. No longer worrying about winning the match, the 19-year-old simply returned to playing high-percentage points. Lisicki held for 6-5 and then–in a repeat of the second game of the match–broke Kuznetsova (this time from 40-love down) to complete the biggest win of her young Grand Slam career.

As this match is put in context, it needs to be said that Lisicki–though unseeded and unaccustomed to the latter stages of a major tournament–owns the weapons that should make her a force on grass courts and cement in the coming years. It would not be a shock if this bomb-throwing ballstriker won a few more matches at Wimbledon, and then returned to the All England Club for more success in the future.

As for Kuznetsova–whose 24th birthday coincided with this defeat–another Grand Slam ended in an all-too-typical manner. The Kooze and her camp of coaches and advisors hoped that her title in France would transform the tenor and trajectory of her career at the majors; instead, another third-round loss will have to be entered on her resume. She does have the consolation of knowing she lost to a hard-hitting dynamo from Germany, but Svetlana Kuznetsova also realizes that she didn’t enhance her standing in women’s tennis with this letdown near London town.

Consistency is a word that might be used too often in conventional tennis discussions, but after Sabine Lisicki’s breakthrough win at Wimbledon on a surprising Saturday, the difficulty of this profession has only become even more magnified.