Ricky’s preview and picks for the Day 6 men’s schedule at Wimbledon
By Ricky Dimon
At this point in the tournament, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer were supposed to be one round away from a blockbuster fourth-round showdown. Instead, that section of the draw has been blown wide open. Either Viktor Troicki, Dustin Brown, Vasek Pospisil, or James Ward will reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
A look at some of the marquee pairings on Day 6:
(WC) James Ward vs. Vasek Pospisil: Raise your hand if you had Pospisil vs. Ward for a spot in the second week of Wimbledon when the draw came out. Yep, nobody. The British crowd would go crazy if Ward of all people made it to the last 16, and facing Pospisil as late as the third round is a dream draw. That being said, getting to face Ward is an even better draw for Pospisil.
(22) Viktor Troicki vs. (Q) Dustin Brown: Add Brown to the list started by Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis, and Nick Kyrgios. Every knows, of course, that Rosol, Darcis, and Kyrgios failed to advance further at Wimbledon after beating Rafael Nadal (Darcis did not even play his next match). Will Brown be able to end the trend? This is a winnable match for Dreddy, but a second consecutive virtuoso performance may be too much to ask.
(13) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (23) Ivo Karlovic: Don’t be surprised if this is a Marin Cilic vs. John Isner redux (those two are currently suspended at 10-10 in the fifth set). Or you could also say that this might go along the lines of Karlovic’s previous match (he beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 13-11 in the fifth on Wednesday). Ace, ace, ace, ace, hold, hold, tiebreaker, hold hold, hold, hold, tiebreaker, etc.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France returns to Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain in their second round match during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 02 July 2015. EPA/GERRY PENNY
(25) Andreas Seppi vs. (3) Andy Murray: This is a nightmare matchup for Seppi, who is basically a poor man’s Murray. The two players have similar styles but Murray can do everything the Italian can do and he can do it all better. Grass will not help the underdog’s chances, either. Seppi pulling off another Grand Slam stunner (he defeated Roger Federer at the Australian Open earlier this season) is not going to happen.
(6) Tomas Berdych vs. Pablo Andujar: We could have had a Berdych vs. Lukas Rosol showdown, which would have been fun simply because Berdych once said that he did not want to be compared to his less-heralded countryman. But we won’t get it because Rosol somehow managed to lose to Andujar on grass. This should be one-way traffic from start to finish for Berdych.
(18) Gael Monfils vs. (12) Gilles Simon: Simon and Monfils once played an infamous 71-ball rally against each other (2013 Australian Open). Mercifully, that is not going to happen again–not on a grass court. Or will it? You never know what Monfils has up his proverbial sleeve. The only guarantee is that this will have just a few more baseline rallies than Cilic vs. Isner.
(Q) Nikoloz Basilashvili vs. (20) Roberto Bautista Agut: As a fellow Georgian, I am proud of Basilashvili for reaching the Wimbledon third round as a qualifier. Oh, wait…. He’s from the country of Georgia?!?! Well, that makes it even more impressive; you don’t see Georgians in the third round of slams every day. And he has a realistic shot at going one step further, as Bautista Agut has been far from dominant so far.
Sam Groth vs. (2) Roger Federer: The Maestro is turning back the clock at 33 years old with awesome tennis all season long. Speaking of the clock, Federer spent a total of two hours and 32 minutes through two rounds. Groth would do well just to make it past the hour and a half mark.
Sam Groth of Australia in action against James Duckworth of Australia during their second round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 02 July 2015. EPA/SEAN DEMPSEY
Topics: AELTC, Ricky Dimon, Sw19, Tennis News, Wimbledon 2015
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