A look at Wednesday’s second-round men’s singles matches at Wimbledon by Ricky Dimon
Spots in the round of 32 will start being handed out on Wednesday at the All-England Club. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are among those back in action, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Ernests Gulbis could have tough matches on their hands.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Radek Stepanek: Stepanek may not get along with a different Serb, Janko Tipsarevic, but the veteran Czech has a borderline bromance going on with Djokovic. Although they have played each other 11 times, it is not exactly a heated rivalry with Djokovic dominating the head-to-head series 10-1.
Gilles Simon vs. Robin Haase: The winner will likely lose to Djokovic in round three, but it is still a big match for two players who generally underwhelm at Wimbledon.
(17) Mikhail Youzhny vs. Jimmy Wang: Youzhny disposed of James Ward on Monday and now the Russian is going up against James Wang (okay, probably not his real first name). Get ready for another sergeant salute from Youzhny in the winner’s circle.
Sam Querrey vs. (14) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: Querrey needed four sets to get past Bradley Klahn and Tsonga needed five to survive Jurgen Melzer. Both men also needed an extra day to complete their matches. Querrey has played five-setters in each of his past four trips to Wimbledon. Don’t be surprised if the streak reaches five.
(12) Ernests Gulbis vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky: Gulbis made noise with both his play and his mouth at the French Open. So far at Wimbledon it has only been with his mouth, as went on some rambling spiel about vampires after a round-one win over Jurgen Zopp. If the Latvian can beat Stakhovsky, who upset Roger Federer last year at this event, it will be an action that speaks louder than words.
Jeremy Chardy vs. Marinko Matosevic: Just like that, Matosevic is winning matches at Grand Slams. The Aussie has now won two straight first-rounders after previously losing the first 12 of his career. He did not celebrate this one with a barrel roll like he did in Paris, so maybe he is not satisfied with just the second round?
Bernard Tomic vs. (6) Tomas Berdych: These two guys also played each other at Wimbledon in 2013, with Berdych winning in four sets. In unrelated news, the all-whites at the All-England Club have really put a dent in Berdych’s attire creativity. Bummer.
(3) Andy Murray vs. Blaz Rola: Murray will be relegated to Court 1 on Wednesday. It should not matter against an opponent who has done extremely well to reach the second round of a slam for the first time in his career.
(20) Kevin Anderson vs. Edouard Roger-Vasselin: Go ahead and pencil this one in for five sets. They have faced each other twice in majors; ERV won 1-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-1 at the 2010 French Open and Anderson prevailed 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 7-5 earlier this season in Melbourne. In more unrelated news, Anderson could not meet Berdych until the semifinals. Good for him!
(11) Grigor Dimitrov vs. (Q) Luke Saville: This could have been Dimitrov vs. Dominic Thiem. Talk about a popcorn match. Now it’s Dimitrov vs. Saville. No offense to the Aussie, who is playing well and good on grass, but this matchup just does not do it for me.
Benjamin Becker vs. (21) Alexandr Dolgopolov: The “B. Becker (GER)” of old routinely advance to the last 32 at Wimbledon. This “B. Becker (GER)” does not. But he has a good opportunity coming off a runner-up in ‘s-Hertogenbosch against an opponent that can blow hot and cold.
Leonardo Mayer vs. (WC) Marcos Baghdatis: I definitely had this as Andreas Seppi vs. Dustin Brown in my bracket. Oops! With this draw, Baghdatis has a real chance for some kind of minor resurgence.
Andrey Kuznetsov vs. (7) David Ferrer: Ferrer vs. Pablo Carreno Busta was a snoozefest in round one. This will be, too. However, things could get interesting in a hurry for Ferrer with Baghdatis potentially in the third round and Dimitrov in the fourth.
Topics: Alexandr Dolgopolov, Andy Murray, Atp, Bernard Tomic, David Ferrer, Ernests Gulbis, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Novak Djokovic, Ricky Dimon, Sam Querrey, Tennis, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych, Wimbledon
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