THE All England Lawn Tennis Club resembled Mexico yesterday. No, really. Everywhere you looked, someone was wearing a poncho. The bright green official Wimbledon ones, a snip at just �10, were the choice of those with Daddy's money behind them, but plenty made do with the see-through variety, bought from a dodgy dealer outside Southfields tube station for just a quid.

The fact that they appeared to have about the same resistance to water as a paper bag didn't seem to bother anyone unduly. At least they looked the part at this SW19 fashion show.

We say fashion show because, despite a couple of sets from the sport's leading ladies, that's all that was on offer at a grim Wimbledon yesterday afternoon. And even those players who managed to escape the confines of the overcrowded lockerrooms for a while were not unfamiliar with a catwalk or two. Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams and Amelie Mauresmo all managed to get out on-court once the rain stopped just before 3 o'clock but only seeds two and four, Sharapova and Mauresmo, managed to get their matches completed before the skies opened again.

The Russian beat Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-3 on Court No 1, and although it took her just 75 minutes to dispose of her plucky opponent, she was given a halfdecent work-out, particularly in the second set. The Russian went a break down early on in that set but with grim determination and a string of stunning winners, she played her way back into the game, breaking Sugiyama's serve on two occasions before sewing things up pretty handily as the rain began to trickle down once more.

"It's always good to get a game like that out of the way before the rain starts to come down, " said Sharapova afterwards. "I was serving out for the match and I saw the rain started to drizzle down and you just want to get things over with as quick as possible. There's nothing worse than being close to match point and having to go off and start all over again a couple of hours later. So I'm just glad to have finished it."

She also defended the decision of the umpire to continue with the last segment of the match even though her opponent, Sugiyama, appeared to want to go off court. "I think it was the right decision, " she said. "The umpire came down and felt the grass to see if it was slippy and she had no problem with us playing on."

The Russian admitted to being delighted with her serve yesterday and all in all she's more than content with how her first week at Wimbledon has gone. "I think I've had a pretty solid week, " said Sharapova, who will meet Venus Williams in the fourth round if the American manages to get the better of Akiko Morigami. "My serve has got better and better as the week has gone on and I've been doing the right things at the most important time of matches. I've been playing better and better as the week has gone on and I'm happy with the position I'm in right now."

Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo also eased through to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Italian Mara Santangelo on Centre Court. Mauresmo has had a pretty handy week so far, dropping just seven games in total before yesterday's demolition job on Santangelo, although you get the feeling she wouldn't have minded at least one more difficult hit-out over the past five days.