Nadal fights back, Williams eases to semis at Wimbledon (photos attached)

Venus Williams of the Unites States returns a shot to Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova during women's singles quarter finals at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, July 5, 2007. Williams won the match 2-0.

LONDON, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Spanish second-seeded Rafael Nadal fought back from two sets down to advance to last eight while Venus Williams eased into semifinals after a straight-set win over Svetlana Kuznetsova at a rain-marred Wimbledon on Thursday.

Nadal, having finally completed a five-set win over Robin Soderling that lasted five days due to rain delay, became embroiled in another marathon match in the round of 16.

He recovered from a two set deficit to beat 14th seed Mikhail Youzhny, who was treated for a back injury 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in his second straight five-set match. The Russian had won his last two matches against Nadal, both on hard courts.

Having been on court five of the last six days, Nadal will have to play each of the next three if he reaches the final.

"What can we do?" he said, "There's no other option."

Roger Federer had a taste of what Nadal and plenty of others had been going through at this wettest of Wimbledons.

Off for nearly a week, four-time reigning champion Federer finally returned to the court for his quarterfinal against 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

After 37 minutes and less than a set, drizzles forced them to stop. And more than three hours later, everyone was sent home for the day.

Venus Williams was lucky to complete a quick win before downfall hit.

Williams, seeded though, downed the fifth seed from Russia 6-3,6-4, and will next play Ana Ivanovic, who beat Nicole Vaidisova 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 to fill in women's semifinals spots.

Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Marcos Baghdatis completed the men's quarterfinal lineup with wins.

Having finished the women's quarterfinals and the men's fourth round before rain stopped play, the only grass court Grand Slam was on course to stage the women's final as scheduled on Saturday and the men's a day later.

Although organizers are optimistic about the singles tournaments, it is still not clear whether Wimbledon will finish by Sunday.

But for sure all players will have to compete Friday after All England Club followed the tradition by resting on middle Sunday, and bad weather caused the longest backlog of matches in 25 years.

"It's a difficult position," said Berdych, who beat Jonas Bjorkman 6-4, 6-0, 6-7 (6), 6-0.

"Even though they knew the conditions were bad, they didn't play Sunday, which is not understandable for me or the other players."

But no one has had it worse than 2006 runner-up Nadal and Djokovic, who would be forced to play on seven consecutive days if either made it to a Sunday men's final.

Fourth-seeded Djokovic beat 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (5) although he also had treatment for his back.

His next opponent is Baghdatis of Cyprus, a former Australian Open runner-up who beat Russia's Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Venus Williams of the Unites States jubilates during women's singles quarter finals against Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, July 5, 2007. Williams won the match 2-0.