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  • Wimbledon 3rd Quarter Preview

    6/23/08 12:22 AM | Jonathan Morgan
    - For the last couple of slams, there has been the Federer quarter, the Nadal quarter, the Djokovic quarter, and the “other” quarter. Usually its Davydenko the favorite to advance, but here on grass, Andy Roddick looks like the fave.

    With the American's big serve and forehand, grass has always been a strong surface for him. He has said in the past that he would love for every match to be played on grass. His Wimbledon semifinal and two other finals appearances back up that claim. He has also won the Queens event 4 times.

    However, all those results are in the past. Janko Tipsarevic would be a potential tricky 2nd round matchup, but the American should get through that. Tursunov should pose no threats to the American, should the racket destroyer even make the 3rd round. Other players blocking his way to the Quarterfinal include Almagro and a host of clay courters.

    A worthy opponent, however, is Davis Cup team mate James Blake. Blake, who in 06 beat Roddick in Queens. He hasn't posted Wimbledon results as well as he would have liked in the past, but he has a good game for the fast grass courts with his flat forehands. He and Roddick should meet in the 4th round.

    In the next little section, it is WIDE OPEN for a Quarterfinalsist. Paul Henri-Mathieu looks like a good candidate, but his history shows us that he will find a way to disappoint whenever possible. Young Croat Marin Cilic also has a shot here, but he may just be a bit green for the occasion. Nieminen is the 24 seed in this section, but he has pretty much fallen off the face of the Earth since his Australian Open run.

    26th seeded Ivan Ljubicic and his impressive 6-8 career record at Wimbledon actually looks like a decent shot to at least win a round or two. 4th seed Nikolay Davydenko could easily lose in the first round to Benjamin Becker. Davydenko had a good year last year here, making the 4th round, but other than that is 1-5 at Wimbledon in his career. Donald Young and Jesse Levine will contest a match of future American stars, as each could possibly win a few rounds here.

    All in all, the Roddick-Blake possible 4th round match should be a thriller and might as well be a QF. Roddick should get through that match and meet up with Nadal in the semis.

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Comments

I would love a Roddick and Nadal match up. A brutal match of the last 2 guys to play Federer in the final would be epic. The winner might play the champion again in the final for a third time. In the match between Andy and Rafa I favor Rafa. He recently beat the fast serving American at Queens not long ago in 2 sets. But that could just mean that Roddick would be out for revenge. I think that besides the Federer-Djokovic semifinal and the Federer/Djokovic-Nadal/Roddick final this is the most entisipated match of the 3rd Grand Slam of 2008. In the final score I can see Nadal winning the match in 4 sets.

Samx1 , 6/23/08 6:54 PM



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