10SBALLS SHARES RICKY’S PICKS FOR THE WIMBLEDON QUARTERFINALS: ANDY MURRAY VS. JO TSONGA, & BERDYCH VS. POUILLE

Written by: Staff on 5th July 2016

10SBALLS SHARES RICKY'S PICKS FOR THE WIMBLEDON QUARTERFINALS: ANDY MURRAY VS. JO TSONGA, & BERDYCH VS. POUILLE

epa05407710 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France serves to Richard Gasquet of France during their fourth round match during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 04 July 2016 EPA/HANNAH MCKAY EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO COMMERCIAL SALES |

By Ricky Dimon

As expected, there is one British hope remaining for the 2016 Wimbledon singles title heading into quarterfinal Wednesday. It is, of course, Andy Murray. Standing in his way of the last four is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, while Tomas Berdych and Lucas Pouille are taking the court in a far more surprising matchup.

Ricky previews the action and makes his predictions.

(12) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (2) Andy Murray

Andy Murray of Britain returns to Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan in their second round match during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 30 June 2016. EPA/HANNAH MCKAY

Murray and Tsonga will be facing each other for the 15th time in their careers. A lopsided head-to-head series has Murray leading12-2, including 5-0 on grass and 2-0 at the All-England Club. They met at this event in both 2010 (quarterfinals) and 2012 (semis), with the Scot prevailingin four sets on each occasion. They have not collided since a pair of showdowns last summer, when Murray prevailed 7-5, 7-6(10), 6-2 in a Davis Cup encounter on the grass courts of Queen’s Club and 6-4, 6-4 at the Montreal Masters. Tsonga last beat his nemesis two years ago in Toronto, via a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4 scoreline.

Murray’s march through this fortnight has been just about perfect so far, featuring straight-set routs of Liam Broady, Yen-Hsun Lu, John Millman, and Nick Kyrgios. The second seed is a perfect 9-0 on the lawn, a record that features a title at Queen’s Club, following his French Open final loss to Novak Djokovic. Tsonga endured a much different kind of trek through the first four rounds. The Frenchman rolled over Inigo Cervantes and Juan Monaco before saving one match point to outlast John Isner 6-7(3), 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 19-17. He then got a retirement from countryman Richard Gasquet while leading 4-2 in the first set on Monday.

This is Tsonga’s first productive tournament since reaching the Monte-Carlo semifinals and he has not done enough to suggest he is ready to topple Murray, whose newfound status as title favorite has not seemed to add any pressure. As usual,Murray’s stellar return game should be too much for Tsonga’s one-dimensional offense.

Pick: Murray in 4

(10) Tomas Berdych vs. (32) Lucas Pouille

Berdych and Pouille will be squaring off for the first time in their careers on Wednesday afternoon. Pouille, who has emerged from Stan Wawrinka’s part of the draw, is quite simply breaking onto the scene and even into the upper echelons of the game right here and now. In fact, he has already more than doubled his previous ATP-level win total in 2016 alone, with 19 of his 34 career match victories. The 22-year-old Frenchman, who will be in the top 20 if he upsets Berdych, is through to the last eight with victories over Marius Copil, Donald Young, Juan Martin Del Potro, and Bernard Tomic (the latter 10-8 in the fifth set).

“Before the tournament, (my goal) was to win one match on grass,” Pouille explained. “Yeah, now of course I’m very happy, very emotional with the win (against Tomic). I (will) try to recover as good as possible for Wednesday. It will be my first day off [on Tuesday], so it will be good. But, yeah, now (I’m) trying to reach the semifinals.”

Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic reacts during his third round match against Alexander Zverev of Germany at the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 03 July 2016 EPA/ANDY RAIN

Berdych is now a four-time quarterfinalist at Wimbledon (including a final appearance in 2010), but he still could not have headed into this fortnight with much confidence. Among his recent results were a double-bagel loss to David Goffin in Rome–after which he split from coach Dani Vallverdu–and a first-round loss to Marcos Baghdatis on the grass courts of Halle. But Berdych has once again raised his level at the All-England Club, with defeats of Ivan Dodig, Benjamin Becker, Alexander Zverev, and Jiri Vesely.

“It feels good,” the world No. 9 said when asked about being back in the quarterfinals. “Overall I think it’s pretty good. It’s a good run. [A five-setter against Vesely] was another tough test for me; just have to get ready for myself for the next one.”

Although Pouille has the talent to win this one, experience should be an overriding factor in Berdych’s favor. This is his 15th slam quarterfinal match, whereas Pouille had a mere two main-draw major wins in his entire career prior to Wimbledon.

Pick: Berdych in 4