Day 4: The Men

Well, we know most of the guys in the third-round of Wimbledon, now. There are still two second-round matches to be completed – Youzhny vs. Mathieu and de Bakker vs. Isner. The winners of those matches play each other for the right to most likely play Rafael Nadal in the Round of 16.
Maybe we should start calling the bottom quarter of the draw the marathon quarter. De Bakker is already the winner of a five-set match that went 16-14, and I won't bother repeating Isner's result. Nadal and his opponent, Philipp Petzschner are also both coming off of five-set matches. Nadal's was a 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 win over Robin Haase, a guy who's just starting to get back to where he belongs in the tennis world after injury, and Petszchner needed 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to top Lukasz Kubot. One thing is for sure, whoever gets to the quarterfinals from this section will have earned it.
Also in that quarter is Robin Soderling, who looked pretty good in his 7-5, 6-1-6-4 win over Marcel Granollers. He gets to play Thomaz Bellucci, who needed a long four-setter to top Martin Fischer of Austria, 6-7(11), 7-6(4), 7-6(1), 6-2. I think the Brazilian's run ends here, but give him some credit – he's done well for a South American who's perceived as a clay-court specialist. Could he be another of the new breed of clay-courters who can succeed on other surfaces? It certainly looks that way.
The other match in that quarter pits the ninth-seed, David Ferrer against unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who won another marathon, 6-3, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-7(5), 8-6 over Lukas Lacko. I'm going with Ferrer in that one, although Chardy might give him some trouble.
In the third quarter, Andy Murray, playing in front of Queen Elizabeth II, made short work of Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. He will play Gilles Simon, who's had a quiet year, but is in the third round, thanks in part to a walkover. The other U.S. man in the bottom half, Sam Querrey, plays Xavier Malisse for a shot at Murray. Querrey will be favored there, and rightfully so, but don't take Malisse too lightly. He is a former Wimbledon semifinalist who knows how to play on grass.
Whoever comes out of that section will probably be playing a Frenchman. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is the highest seed left, but he needed another marathon – 10-8 in the fifth – to beat Alexandr Dolgopolov. For his efforts, he gets unseeded Tobias Kamke for the right to play either compatriot Julien Benneteau or Fabio Fognini. Fognini followed up his upset win over Fernando Verdasco with a 3-6, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(6), 6-3 win over Michael Russel, and Benneteau also needed – you guessed it – five sets to beat Andreas Beck 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.
Up tomorrow on the men's side will be the end of the second round (hopefully) and the start of the third. Back with more on the men then.