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  • Wimbledon First Round: Michael Llodra vs. Mario Ancic

    6/22/08 9:26 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - It will be a battle between two players capable of making deep runs at Wimbledon when Michael Llodra takes on Mario Ancic in the first round. Huge serves, short points, and few breaks should be the order of the day.

    Very soon Mario Ancic will be seeded at Grand Slam events, but despite a stellar season so far his ranking is still down at No. 43 due to an injury-plagued 2007 campaign. The 6'5'' Croat, however, is not seeded at Wimbledon and both Ancic and Michael Llodra are paying the price.

    Their first-round clash on Monday appears to be the best of a host of mouth-watering matchups in the first quarter of the draw. It will be the second career meeting between Ancic and Llodra. Ancic took the first encounter 7-5, 6-4 on the grass courts of 's-Hertogenbosch three years ago.

    's-Hertogenbosch is where Ancic's 2008 resurgence continued last week. He reached the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champ and top-seeded David Ferrer in two tight sets. Ancic's often-questionable health is better than ever right now and that has consistently paid dividends for the big guy this season. In addition to a his 's-Hertogenbosch performance, Ancic finished runner-up in Marseille, reached the semifinals in Zagreb, enjoyed strong showings in both Indian Wells and Miami, and had a winning record during the clay-court swing.

    Like Ancic, Llodra is also a far different play from the one he was just last season. Always lethal in doubles, the Frenchman finally started focusing on singles this year and the results were immediate. Llodra won the season-opening event in Adelaide and took home the Rotterdam title one month later. As if that wasn't enough for a whole season's worth of singles success, Llodra also made quarterfinal appearances in both Auckland and Halle and reached the fourth round in Roland Garros.

    This match will most likely come down to which player serves better and wins the most free points. If both Ancic and Llodra are firing their first deliveries in with consistency, it will all come down to handling the pressure moments in tiebreakers. Ancic's strong Wimbledon history could give him the confidence to take care of business at the critical junctures. He reached the semifinals in 2004, the fourth round in 2005, and the quarterfinals in 2006. Llodra, surprisingly, has never made it past the second round. As a result, Ancic in four highly-competitive sets is the pick.

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Comments

I favor Ancic over Llodra. The young Croat has a booming serve and on grass that greatly helps. Plus if you would remember 6 years ago a young Mario beat a player by the name of Roger Federer at Wimbledon, the last to beat the great champion on grass. Llodra might have more expierience but "Super Mario" has the game to match.

Samx1 , 6/23/08 7:00 PM



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