Thursday, June 24, 2010

Wimbledon Day 3: The Men

The Roger Federer watch has been completely pushed to the back-burner by the first-round match that's turned into the story of the tournament so far. For now, here's what's going on in the rest of the men's tournament.
It doesn't look like Federer's struggles were a one-time thing. After being pushed to the brink in the first round – remember, Alejandro Falla served for that match in the fourth set – Federer really needed to come out and stomp his next opponent into the ground to let people know that match was a fluke. He didn't exactly do that, although he did go four sets without dropping serve in his 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(5) win over Ilija Bozoljac. Clearly, he's still working his way into the tournament. Up next for him is Arnaud Clement. That match should be all kinds of fun, but Federer's got to be glad for his draw right now. The most dangerous opponent in his quarter is now Tomas Berdych, and they aren't seeded meet until the quarterfinals.
Both Federer and Berdych had nice draws to start with, but Berdych's has gotten much nicer after two rounds. Rather than the 20th seed, Stanislas Wawrinka, he will get Denis Istomin in the third round for the right to play either Victor Hanescu or Daniel Brands of Germany in the fourth. I think he'll get through that to get his shot at Federer, and if the top seed's level of play doesn't improve, his tournament could very well end there. Berdych is too dangerous of an opponent to face on an off fortnight.
In the bottom quarter, things have largely gone to form. The surprise third-round match is Forian Mayer vs. Yen-Hsen Lu, but the other six seeds, including No. 3 Novak Djokovic, No. 5 Andy Roddick and No. 15 Lleyton Hewitt are all in and looking tough. Djokovic got a test in the first set of his match against Taylor Dent but advanced in three (7-6[5], 6-1, 6-4). After beating two opponents, in Dent and Olivier Rochus, he has lost to in the past, Djokovic has got to be feeling good about himself moving forward.
Hewitt, after dropping his first set of the tournament, has only lost 11 games in four-and-a-half sets, (His second-round opponent, Evgeny Korolev, retired trailing 6-4, 6-4, 3-0 yesterday.) Now, he gets a real test, against 21st seed Gael Monfils, who needed four sets to get through Karol Beck 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4. This is, without a doubt, the most interesting match of the men's third round.
It's Roddick who has to be feeling best about his tournament so far. He got tested against Michael Llodra, a dangerous grass-court player, but still advanced in four (4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6[2]). Now, he plays a tired Philip Kohlschreiber, who needed 9-7 in the fifth to beat Teimuraz Gabashvili. Roddick should get through that one, as well as his fourth-round match, against either Mayer or Lu, to get to the quarterfinals.
As for the Isner vs. Mahut match, well, I'll post on that when (if?) it ends.

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