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  • Wimbledon Third Round: Mario Ancic vs. David Ferrer

    6/27/08 6:04 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - Mario Ancic and David Ferrer will meet for the second time in as many weeks on Friday at Wimbledon. The winner is on a potential quarterfinal collision course with top-seeded Roger Federer.

    It will be a rematch of last week's Ordina Open quarterfinals when David Ferrer takes on Mario Ancic in the Wimbledon third round. Ferrer knocked out Ancic 6-4, 7-6(4) en route to his first grass-court title. Overall the Spaniard leads 2-0 in head-to-head battles against Ancic, with the first win coming at the Australian Open back in 2006.

    Despite his recent loss to Ferrer, the 6'5'' Croat is still an enormous threat at Wimbledon and grass remains his best chance to take out the No. 5 player in the world. In five trips to the All-England club, Ancic has lost in the first round just once (to Rafael Nadal in 2003) and he is a former quarterfinalist (2006) and semifinalist (2004). This year the oft-injured Ancic is healthier than ever and it is paying off in a major way. After returning about a month into the season, Ancic has enjoyed solid results. He 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.

    If Ancic has been solid, Ferrer has once again been spectacular. He has built upon a breakout 2007 campaign by maintaining his No. 5 ranking while positioning himself also at No. 5 in the 2008 points race. Those efforts were helped by quarterfinal appearances at both the Australian and French Opens, a runner-up performance in Barcelona, and titles in Valencia and 's-Hertogenbosch. The latter grass-court triumph, Ferrer's first, bodes extremely well for his Wimbledon chances and so far he has not disappointed. Ferrer eased past Sergiy Stakhovsky in round one and followed that up with a four-set win over Igor Andreev.

    On grass Ancic is a far more formidable fore that Ferrer's first two opponents. His massive serve and aggressive style of play can work wonders on grass, as evidenced by his past Wimbledon results. Nonetheless, Ferrer should be brimming with confidence thanks to his wins over Ancic. Ferrer has one of the best second-serve returns in tennis, so Ancic must serve extremely well if he wants to entertain any thoughts of an upset. Chances are that Ancic will blast enough bombs to take at least one set, but overall this is Ferrer's match to win or lose.

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