ATP Wimbledon – Men’s Wednesday Preview

Mardy Fish vs. Denis Istomin

Mardy Fish and Denis Istomin meet for the first time ever on the ATP Tour at the All England Club. Coming without match practice, the American Mardy Fish won against Granollers in first round, but if his serve entered well then he suffered on the ground.

Istomin played prior to Wimbledon on the surface but with limited success while here he found his rhythm, especially on serve, to surprise Kohlschreiber in first round.

The Uzbek won 87% points behind the serve with 18 aces while the American fired 26 aces wining 84% points behind the serve. Both players have a powerful serve and little action will be seen on court, if Fish’s serve will enter he will have the upper hand but we don’t see an easy match as Istomin can generate a lot of power in his ground game and he will enter with a solid morale after he found his game and a surprise isn’t out of cards.

Richard Gasquet vs. Igor Kunitsyn    

World number 13 Richard Gasquet of France prevailed over Santiago Giraldo of Colombia in straight sets in the opening round of Wimbledon. Wasn’t an easy match as he needed to handle the powerful serve of the Columbian but the Frenchman showed solid tennis and advanced a lot to the net to overcome Giraldo.

Kunitsyn won against qualifier Sijsling much easily then expected, he kept his errors low and let the Dutchman to be the aggressor, he controlled the match. It will be the first meeting between them, overall the Russian hasn’t a solid weapon to trouble the Frenchman here, he counts on consistency and a solid serve while on the ground the Frenchman looks the better player.

Gasquet served well in first round and returned well, with his one handed backhand he will open well the court.    

Simone Bolelli vs. Stanislas Wawrinka    

Taking advantage of the excellent draw the Italian reaches the second round of Wimbledon. He commanded the match right from the start, finishing with excellent service percentage and leading in each set. The Swiss played better then in Queens against Starace but is hard to read something in form against a player who wasn’t accustomed with the grass.

H2h is 2-0 for the Swiss with the most recent meeting back in 2008, Bolelli can make life difficult for the Swiss but he needs to be more aggressive in his game and not let Wawrinka to dictate the rhythm.

The Italian served well and has four matches here, he contested well Murray at French Open and we expect another solid performance here. 

Gilles Muller vs. Milos Raonic

Canadian Milos Raonic was supposed to play with Fognini, but the Italian withdrew and was replaced by lucky loser Gicquel. He dominate the match behind the serve but he also made some errors especially on low balls on backhand wing, usually he missed a lot of low bouncing balls.

Muller being a lefty could be of some concern to Raonic, because one of his most disappointing losses this year occurred in the first round of the French Open to another left-hander in Michael Berrer.

"I've never played him, but I saw him at some Challengers we both played last year. I know he's one of the young guns coming up and that he really hits hard. If I get chances to break serve early in the match, I'm going to have to take advantage of them", said Muller about his opponent.

Muller had a good grass preparation wining the title in Nottingham but overall he isn’t considered a grass court player and had limited success on the surface. The outcome will be made by a point here and there, Muller has also a powerful serve and with his low backhand slice can trouble Raonic but the Canadian served well in first round and hit with a lot of power from the back of the court and has the upper hand here but Muller has the game to push him hard.

Robin Haase vs. Fernando Verdasco

Both players played yesterday as their match was interrupt due to rain. If Haase advanced in three sets then Verdasco bounced back in the match after he lost the first two sets.

The Spaniard was hot and cold in the first two sets, too nervous, with brilliant shots but then childish errors, his serve was off and his game full of errors but on the background of a relaxed Stepanek he managed to bounce back saving match point. He started to be sharper on serve and returns and went for his shots.

The Dutchman was solid on serve with 25 aces wining 83% points behind the first serve, he made only 10 unforced errors and 51 winners. Haase has a powerful serve to win free points and he plays some aggressive tennis, last year was solid against Nadal pushing the Spaniard all the way and even that Verdasco is coming after a boost of morale win his game still isn’t at his best.

The Spaniard will have some morale here but still he struggles and became too impatient when his game doesn’t enter.

Juan Ignacio Chela vs. Alex Bogomolov    

Long before this first rain delay Alex Bogomolov, playing, surprisingly, his first Wimbledon at age 28 won comfortably against his compatriot Young.

He brings a new confidence in his game and that showed on court, he can go for his shots easily when he is confident in his game and he has the chance to advance in the third round in a Grand Slam when he meets Chela who isn’t on his best surface.

The Argentine won against Matosevic who was a qualifier here, he didn’t served powerfully but he counted on consistency and was solid on returns especially on second delivery.

Interesting meeting as Bogomolov isn’t typical American hard court player as he can remain solid in long rallies, he has a solid serve and can exploit the poor record of Chela’s on grass.

Tricky match as the odds shows the match can go either way but Bogomolov plays with a lot of confidence.  

Rainer Schuettler vs. Feliciano Lopez      

Veteran Rainer Schuettler advanced in the second round at Wimbledon after he won against another left hander, Thomaz Bellucci.

The Brazilian started well putting a lot of pressure on the ground and on serve, he broke first but he didn’t kept the momentum as the German started to retrieve well and made a lot of backhand winners to win comfortably.

Lopez won the battle against another left hander, he was solid on serve wining 89% points behind the serve and he didn’t faced a break point the entire match.

It will be interesting as the German showed solid tennis and consistency on court, he waited until Bellucci started to make errors and he quickly moved up front, he has a lot of experience and the Spaniard needs to be decisive on serve to win more free points. Lopez is favorite to take this one but Schuettler can steal a set.    

Julien Benneteau vs. Tomas Berdych

Tomas Berdych started to defend his final with a solid display against Volandri. The last meeting between them was at Wimbledon but back in 2004.

The Czech had light work against the Italian letting only five games but from five games two were breaks and the luck of the concentration during the match worries us especially against a fighter and hungry for points Benneteau.

The Frenchman won in five sets against tricky qualifier Bemelmans losing his serve twice but he ended up strongly. He didn’t serve too well, only 44% of first serve in but he was solid on retrieving and on the ground.

Berdych has the upper hand on serve but the Frenchman is a good retriever and some tough exchanges are expected here, Berdych lost his serve twice against Volandri and Benneteau can prove trickier then at first glance.    

Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Olivier Rochus

Juan Martin del Potro reached the second round by beating Flavio Cipolla in straight sets in a match that started a day earlier. He was down a break in the second set when the match was interrupt but he regrouped well.

The Argentine was solid on serve hitting 14 aces and losing only five points behind first serve but he meet a tricky player who stretched Djokovic well on the same surface.

Rochus came from two sets down against powerful server De Schepper overcoming the 35 aces but after he started to read the serve he controlled the match. The main problem of the Argentine is his movement on court, Rochus hasn’t a real weapon to trouble Del Potro but he creates good angels in his shots and can put the Argentine on the wrong foot, he can mix up on court with his good backhand slice forcing Del Potro to bend his knee but we don’t see him keeping too much this level.

'

Gael Monfils vs. Grega Zemlja    

The Frenchman has never previously gone beyond the third round at SW19 but he looked in fine form during his three sets triumph in first round.

"It's good to win a first match in a slam, especially on grass. t takes a little bit of time to feel really good on grass, so I'm happy to win in straight sets today", said the Frenchman.

He hasn’t a comfortable player, Zemlja has already four matches here and showed solid tennis against Lacko wining a lot of points behind the serve. This will be the key of the match, the serve as even that Monfils had little trouble his ground game suffered especially his returns but was saved by serve.

Zemlja has a powerful serve and can stay solid in long rallies, he advance to the net to finish up quickly the points and if Monfils will struggle once more to read opponent’s serve tie-breaks should be seen.    

Lukasz Kubot vs. Ivo Karlovic

Ivo Karlovic waited two days to play only one set as Tipsarevic withdrew after that. He will meet another big server in Kubot who struggled after he won the first two sets but he ended as a winner.

The Polish player made with only 2 winners more then Clement and had more unforced errors and his serve was on and off.

Both players have a powerful serve but the Croat has the upper hand, he also advance to the net to finish quickly the points and Kubot will need to react well to pass him as Karlovic has a wide reach at the net.

Kubot doesn’t like to play quickly, he needs time to adjust his shots and if he will be once more off on serve he will be under pressure. 

Dudi Sela vs. Gilles Simon

Dudi Sela continued his recent run with a victory in the opening round of the Wimbledon Championships, defeating the Portuguese player, Frederico Gil.

The Israeli player is in good form wining three Challengers in a row, including one on grass and is coming in good form and with a high morale. He won a lot of free points behind the serve and was solid on court brimming with confidence.

"Grass is my favourite surface and I badly want to do well to prove that I deserved the wild card", said Sela.

He has his chances as the Frenchman isn’t on his favorite surface, Simon missed too much against Roger-Vasselin and Sela will not give him same comfort.

The Frenchman was off on serve and his returns were poor in some moments. Sela will chase down a lot of balls and will beat Simon with his own weapons, solid defense and good returns. It will be the first meting between them but Sela has wins over tough baseliners on grass like Schuettler, Robredo, Roddick.

Rafael Nadal vs. Ryan Sweeting        

Defending men's champ Rafael Nadal quickly overcomes being down a service break in the first round of Wimbledon. He started well but he struggled to fine his shots while Russell was better from the back of the court. Wasn’t an easy match for the Spaniard who even that he showed solid tennis still didn’t impress too much.

He will meet the third time Sweeting, the American being on his least favorite surface and struggling against Andujar. Sweeting barely contested Nadal until now and on this surface he will have less weapons as his serve was down against the Spaniard and he will be tricky for him to cope with the low slices.

Andy Murray vs. Tobias Kamke

Not the best start for Murray who already lost a set. The Scot started slowly losing the first set but picked up momentum in the second which he won. He then went on to steamroll his opponent, bageling him in the third and fourth.

He will meet Kamke who made a lot of errors on court but still he managed to win against Kavcic. The Britt needed some time to found his rhythm but after that he rolled the match, the forecast shows lights rain and Murray needs an easy win to not stay too much on court.  

Sergiy Stakhovsky vs. Ivan Ljubicic

In a Croatian first round battle was Ljubicic who ended up winner in a match that lasted two days. He fired 21 aces with only 2 double faults and won 81% points behind first serve and even that he faced some break points he wasn’t in trouble to lose the match.

It will be the fourth meeting between them, the most recent one is this year won by the Croat who also won their lone meeting on grass.

The Ukrainian had little trouble against local player Cox, hard to read something in his game when opponent put little fight on court.

Ljubicic served well and as long his serve will enter he will have the upper hand, the Ukrainian needs to stay solid behind his own serve to force tie-breaks but overall the Croat has the better grass game.

Victor Hanescu vs. Andy Roddick

Andy Roddick hit 30 aces and 42 winners with only 10 unforced errors and his effective serving limited Beck to one break point in the match. But despite all that he suffered on court as the German played a solid match forcing the American to serve his best during the match.

The Romanian fired 18 aces with no double faults having also 10 unforced errors and wining 86% points behind the serve.

In three meetings so far only once Hanescu managed to contest Roddick and that back in 2003 but the Romanian has a powerful serve and Beck showed that the American relies too much on serve while his ground game isn’t sharp enough.

Hanescu hit with a lot of power from the back of the court and will have the upper hand on backhand wing to open the court and he has the game to force a tie-break. Roddick is favorite to take this one but against top players Hanescu always plays a level above.