A LOOK AT FRIDAY’S WIMBLEDON MATCHES, INCLUDING DIMITROV VS. DOLGOPOLOV BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 26th June 2014

A LOOK AT FRIDAY'S WIMBLEDON MATCHES, INCLUDING DIMITROV VS. DOLGOPOLOV BY RICKY DIMON

epa04282748 Spectators follow the action on a show court during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 26 June 2014. EPA/TATYANA ZENKOVICH |

Third-round action begins on Friday at Wimbledon with the side of the draw featuring Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray but suddenly lacking David Ferrer. Among those also in action are Grigor Dimitrov, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Tomas Berdych, and Marin Cilic.

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Gilles Simon: Djokovic asked himself after surviving Radek Stepanek in a fourth-set tiebreaker why he had complicated his life by playing such a close match. Well, Stepanek is stellar on grass. Simon is not. If Djokovic’s life gets similarly complicated on Friday, then there will be cause for concern.

Jimmy Wang vs. (14) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: Tsonga jimmied his way past both Jurgen Melzer and Sam Querrey in five sets. He should have to do much jimmying against Wang, but you never know with the Frenchman given his lackluster current form.

Sergiy Stakhovsky vs. Jeremy Chardy: Recent Wimbledon giant-killers are falling by the wayside this fortnight. Steve Darcis (d. Rafael Nadal in 2013) did not even qualify for the main draw. Lukas Rosol (d. Nadal in 2012) lost to Nadal on Thursday. Stakhovsky (d. Roger Federer in 2013) is still alive. But this won’t be easy against Chardy.

(26) Marin Cilic vs. (6) Tomas Berdych: There’s not much to say about this one. The bottom line is if you like high-quality, competitive matches, you will like Berdych vs. Cilic. If you like ball-bashing, you will like Berdych vs. Cilic even more.

(3) Andy Murray vs. (27) Roberto Bautista Agut: Murray may have had an exhausting off day on Thursday. Two of his favorite players endured tough five-setters; Gael Monfils lost to Jiri Vesely and Nick Kyrgios upset Richard Gasquet. But don’t fret, Britain–Murray should have plenty left in the mental and physical tank to get past RBA…especially at home and on grass.

(20) Kevin Anderson vs. (16) Fabio Fognini: It does not get more no-nonsense (Anderson) vs. insanity (Fognini) than this. The latter might win out at the Happy Slam (Australian Open) or maybe on clay (French Open), but you can just tell that Fognini does not enjoy himself at the All-England Club. He certainly will not enjoy playing Anderson on grass.

(11) Grigor Dimitrov vs. (21) Alexandr Dolgopolov: The head-to-head series is tied 1-1, so where’s the edge? Dimitrov definitely has it in terms of playing like Federer and dating Maria Sharapova. Dolgopolov has it in terms of…well…being unorthodox. Advantage: Dimitrov. And how about this: the winner will get either Leonardo Mayer or Andrey Kuznetsov instead of David Ferrer. In the words of John McEnroe, you cannot be serious!

Leonardo Mayer vs. Andrey Kuznetsov: Seriously? This is a matchup I would have easily believed if I had seen it last week in Roehampton (where qualifying is held). In the third round of Wimbledon, though? Nah, I’m not believing it.

Topics: Alexandr Dolgopolov, Andy Murray, Atp, David Ferrer, Grass Courts, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Jeremy Chardy, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Kevin Anderson, Leonardo Mayer, Marin Cilic, Novak Djokovic, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Tennis, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych, Wimbledon

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10sBalls_com says:

June 26, 2014 at 4:22 pm

A LOOK AT FRIDAY’S WIMBLEDON MATCHES, INCLUDING DIMITROV VS. DOLGOPOLOV BY RICKY @RD_Tennistalk – http://t.co/mZryFiTWQA #Wimbledon2014