WIMBLEDON, England ? Recovering from the shock of losing the first set to a player ranked 109 places below her, top-seeded Venus Williams reached the fourth round Saturday to continue her chase for a third straight Wimbledon title.

Also Saturday, the last American in the men’s draw, Jeff Morrison, lost in straight sets – meaning that, for the first time in 80 years, no U.S. player advanced to the round of 16.

There was controversy, too, at the end of the first week – with Britain’s Tim Henman benefiting from an overrule in a tiebreaker to overcome Wayne Ferreira in four sets.

“I think it’s shocking,” Ferreira said. “If he (the umpire) had any decency, I think he would have at least come and apologized. … I’m quite angry.”

Williams, who had lost only six games in the first two rounds, had to come from behind to defeat 110th-ranked Maureen Drake, a 31-year-old Canadian journeywoman, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

Wearing a white bandage on her left knee and limping slightly at times, Williams looked a step slow in the first set.

Drake, wearing wraparound black sunglasses, wasn’t intimidated and played on even terms with Williams. After an 18-stroke rally in the 12th game, Drake broke Williams to take the set – and celebrated as if she had just won the tournament.

After hitting a volley on set point, Drake jumped into the air and waved her arms as the Court 1 crowd responded with a huge ovation. But it was a short-lived moment. Williams lifted her game and swept the next two sets while dropping only three games.

While Williams was the seventh American woman to reach the round of 16, Morrison – a lucky loser who had upset ninth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round – was eliminated 6-4, 7-6 (7), 6-0 by No. 18 Sjeng Schalken.

It marks the first time since 1922 that no American man has advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon. It had already been the worst performance by American men at Wimbledon since the Open era began in 1968.

Henman, meanwhile, remained in contention to become the first British player to win the Wimbledon men’s title in 66 years.

Coming from behind in both tiebreakers, the fourth-seeded Henman fed off the frenzied support of the Centre Court crowd and took advantage of crucial Ferreira mistakes to prevail 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-1 in 3 1/2 hours.

The match hinged on a debatable line call with Ferreira serving with a 4-1 lead in the third-set tiebreaker.

The South African hit a forehand passing shot which landed on or near the baseline. Both lines judges ruled the ball in. But, with Henman motioning that the ball was out, Portuguese chair umpire Jorge Dias overruled and gave him the point.

Television replays appeared to indicate the ball was in.

“Of course, I’m always going to see it out,” Henman said. “It was tight, and those things can be important. But Wayne had a couple of net cords in that tiebreaker as well. That was the turning point.”

Ferreira said he felt he was robbed by the umpire’s call.

“It was a total intimidation thing I think,” he said. “Tim, he was showing out. I don’t blame him for that. The umpire gets paid, travels the year round, he is a professional. It was a very important call, a very important point. I feel I should have won that match in straight sets.”

Ferreira still had his chances but failed to capitalize. At 5-4, he had two service points to win the tiebreaker. But he made a forehead error to make it 5-5 and then double-faulted on the next point. He reacted by smashing a ball in anger out of the stadium.

The tiebreaker was far from over, though.

Ferreira went on to save three set points – at 6-5 with a backhand return winner, at 7-6 with an easy forehand pass, and at 8-7 with another sizzling backhand return.

But, on the fourth set point at 9-8, Ferreira took a big swing on a forehand half-volley and dumped the ball into the net.

The tiebreaker lasted 15 minutes and featured loud cheering and chanting by supporters of both players – `Hen-Man! Hen-Man!” and “Go Wayne Go!”

But the match was all but over after the tiebreaker. Henman broke a deflated Ferreira three times to win the fourth set and close out the match.

After a winning forehand volley on match point, Henman held up his fist to the crowd – one of numerous times throughout the afternoon he pumped and gestured to fire himself up and get the fans behind him.

The match was played in a Davis Cup-style atmosphere, with an almost even level of support between South African and British supporters waving their national flags.

“The best atmosphere I think I’ve ever played,” Ferreira said. “It was one of the most unbelievable matches I’ve played from that respect. Even though I lost today, I had a wonderful time.”

Henman, who lost in the Wimbledon semifinals three times in the past four years, is under intense domestic pressure as he seeks to become the first British man to win the championship since Fred Perry in 1936.

He’ll next face Switzerland’s Michel Kratochvil, who beat Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.

Two more seeded men lost Saturday: No. 16 Nicole Escude of France and No. 17 Rainer Schuettler of Germany.

Mikhail Youzhny of Russia beat Escude 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; while Spain’s Feliciano Lopez – who saved a total of seven match points in his first two matches – downed Schuettler 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-4.

The defeats of Escude and Schuettler means 15 of the top 17 were eliminated in the first week – only top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt and Henman are left.

Among those eliminated earlier this week were second-seeded Marat Safin, No. 3 Andre Agassi and No. 6 Pete Sampras. In the bottom half of the draw, the highest-seeded player left is No. 22 Nicolas Lapentti.

Also Saturday, Hewitt was paired against Austria’s Julian Knowle.

Lopez will next play Andre Sa, who downed Flavio Saretta 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in only the third all-Brazilian Grand Slam match in the Open era. It’s the furthest that Sa, ranked 90, has ever gone in a Grand Slam.

In women’s play, Monica Seles dropped her first set in nine matches against Ai Sugiyama but rallied to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the round of 16. She will next face Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn, who beat Melien Tu of the United States 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.

No. 6 Justine Henin made it to the round of 16 with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Swiss qualifier Myrian Casanova.

Also advancing were Magdalena Maleeva, who beat No. 10 Silvia Farina Elia of Italy, 7-6 (2), 6-4; Elena Likhovtseva, who defeated Britain’s Elena Baltacha, 6-4, 7-6 (2); and No. 16 American Lisa Raymond (16), who rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over 1994 champion Conchita Martinez.