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The second week of Wimbledon is set to begin and I wonder if the drama we have witnessed so far can possibly be matched.
There was the epic Isner/Mahut marathon match where breakfast at Wimbledon turned into lunch, dinner and leftovers for the next day. We recently witnessed the self-destruction of Victor Hanescu who blew a two-sets to none lead, spat at some taunting fans and then tanked some points and retired with a so-called injury. In doubles, the shocking loss of top-ranked doubles tandem Nestor and Zimonjic to the British pair of Chris Eaton and Dominic Inglot got our attention. Then who could forget the near-exit of Roger Federer in the first round and then Rafael Nadal in rounds two and three. To cap it all off there was the first visit from the Queen herself since before Roger and Rafa were even born! Clearly there was no shortage of memorable moments over the first seven days.
On the men's side expect Federer to self-correct after nearly bowing out to Ale-Alejandro (Falla) in the opening round. Roger dismantled Arnaud Clement with ease in the third round and now faces Jurgen Melzer who has never experienced much success on grass. While Melzer experienced an unlikely semi-final appearance at Roland Garros last month, he is out of his league at Wimbledon against Roger. This is the first meeting between the two which could factor into a four set win forFederer.
Tomas Berdych also reached the semi-finals at the French Open and should be able to at least get through his next opponent, 6'5'' Daniel Brands from Germany. Ranked98th in the world, Brands has had an interesting time at the All-England Club thus far with a big win over Nikolay Davydenko in the second round and then the strange five-set victory against Hanescu. Still, he is unlikely to continue his streak against the seasoned Berdych.
The most anticipated fourth-round match is between veteran Lleyton Hewitt (who won here in 2002) and the up-and-down Novak Djokovic. While Hewitt recently defeated Federer in Halle and has played well this year, he is 1-3 against Djokovic in his career, with two losses on grass. I suppose the odds of this one going five-sets are likely given Hewitt's fitness and desire to win - which does not bode well forDjokovic.
American Andy Roddick has performed admirably thus far and should destroy his next opponent in Yen-Hsun Lu. A Roddick/Hewitt or Roddick/Djokovic quarter-final match is one I'm already eager to watch.
It's France vs France between Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The pair are tied at three victories apiece in their career head-to-head and expect the older Benneteau to challenge Tsonga, who is not exactly at ease on grass.
A very interesting tilt between Andy Murray and Sam Querrey is anyone's guess. While Murray has breezed through the draw and performed well in front of the Queen the other day, he is sure to be tested by the big-serving and confident American.Querrey has won titles on all three surfaces this year and is due to have a Grand Slam breakthrough in 2010. While Murray owns a 3-0 career record againstQuerrey, this is their first meeting in two years - a time period that has seen Querrey improve by leaps and bounds.
Sweden's Robin Soderling is truly coming into his own on the ATP Tour and showed last month that his 2009 French Open finals appearance was no fluke. A truly deserving top-ten player for the first time in his career,Soderling has not yet dropped a set in the tourney and should take care of clay court guru David Ferrer with no issues.
Finally look for Rafa to dispose of P-H Mathieu in less than five sets, but don't expect the Spaniard to make a deep run given his current physical state. After two come-from-behind victories and injury issues to his arm and knee,Nadal may only have one more Wimbledon victory in him this year. He will be put to the test by Soderling in the quarters and if he ever were to make it past that would be seriously challenged in his current state by any of the other big-names.
I'm getting the vibe for a Federer/Roddick semi in the top-half and a Murray-Soderling in the bottom. I'd love to hear your thoughts before or after round four gets underway.
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