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  • Second Round Recap: Bolelli Stuns Gonzalez

    6/27/08 5:46 AM | Ricky Dimon
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    Simone Bolelli wins three tiebreakers to send Fernando Gonzalez crashing out of Wimbledon. The Italian is joined in the third round by Lleyton Hewitt and David Ferrer.

    Lleyton Hewitt d. Albert Montanes 7-6(4), 6-0, 6-2

    Hewitt struggled against his opponent's serve in the first set but after winning it in a tiebreaker he proceeded to blow Montanes off the court. The Aussie jumped all over Montanes' second deliveries in sets two and three and overall Hewitt won 59 percent of his second-serve return points. “It was good to get through in straight sets,” said the No. 20 seed. “He was serving well in the first set and it was hard to get into him, but as the match went on I felt more and more comfortable.” Hewitt, who added that the hip injury that sidelined him for much of the spring is not a big issue at the moment, will take on Simone Bolelli in round three.

    Simone Bolelli d. Fernando Gonzalez 7-6(8), 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(4)

    There have been a lot of upsets so far at Wimbledon, but few--if any--of the surprises have been as entertaining as Bolelli's four-set win over Gonzalez. All three sets won by the Italian came in tiebreakers, while the 15th-seeded Chilean stayed alive after dropping the first two frames by taking the third. This high-quality thriller boiled down to nothing more than Bolelli's ability to play the big points well. Overall Gonzalez broke serve three times and won 148 points, while Bolelli broke twice and captured 149 total points. Almost all of the match statistics were shockingly similar, although Gonzalez led the ace count 18-8 but struck a few more unforced errors (32-25).

    David Ferrer d. Igor Andreev 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

    Losing to clay-court specialist Andreev would have been a big disappointment for Ferrer, who won his first grass-court just last week at the Ordina Open. The No. 5 seed is a dirtball master himself, but clearly he is becoming more and more dangerous on the slick stuff. It took a while, however, for Ferrer to heat up on Wednesday. His return of serve improved dramatically following a first set in which Andreev saved all three of the break points he faced. The Russian began coming into net a lot more in sets three and four after getting pushed around from the back of the court, but no tactics worked against Ferrer in the second half of the contest. It will be a rematch of last week's Ordina Open quarterfinals when Ferrer meets Mario Ancic in the third round.

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