Williams broke serve to lead, 2-0, and started her second service game with another ace out wide.
Amid shouts of "Mar-dy!", "Mar-dy!" Fish kept moving forward, winning his serve to lead 5-3.
She broke serve to lead 5-3 in the opening set and held two set points on her own serve only for Falconi to hit back.
Neither man gave an inch, the level was absurdly high and then Federer held serve to lead 6-5, heaping the pressure on Sampras.
She did manage to break Stephens' serve to lead 2-1 in the second set but from there the American won four straight games to lead 5-2 before wrapping up victory.
However, the 19-year-old from Guernsey fought back to level the match before the 17-year-old Robson took command of the decider, breaking serve to lead 4-2.
Dementieva, seeded No. 7, broke serve to lead 6-5 in the first set, but Kournikova fought back to force the first tie breaker, which she won, 7-4, when Dementieva hit a sliced backhand into the net.
That crisis passed as soon as he put in a remarkable lob for break point moments later, however, and, although Ljubicic held serve to lead 2-1 withethe serving cycle in his favour, Murray looked in good shape in the stretch.
The first six games in the second set went with serve as Babos and Shvedova held firm, but Serena and Venus moved up a gear as they broke the Shvedova serve to lead 4-3 and then Serena held to lead 5-3.
Djokovic admitted that Wawrinka, who beat Andy Murray in the quarter-finals, had been the better player for much of their match, but the 26-year-old Serb showed all his fighting qualities, especially after the Swiss had held his serve to lead 2-1 in the deciding set after an extraordinary 21-minute game which featured 12 deuces.
Eventually Halep held and then broke Jankovic's serve to lead 5-3 buthehe Serb summoned up enough energy to hit back in the next.
