Article

  • Wimbledon round 3: Safin vs Wawrinka

    6/30/08 9:48 AM | Johan Lindahl
    - The 2nd quarter is statistically always the most open section at Wimbledon and 2008 has not failed to deliver with upsets galore in the first week. Now we're getting down to the business end of the championships and its tough to pick who will progress to the semis.

    After openly hating grass for the best part of a decade Marat Safin may be wondering like many others why he's not produced this kind of tennis at Wimbledon for so long. The big Russian is a force of nature when on song. Pete Sampras can vouch for that, predicting Safin to dominate world tennis for years to come after his demolition in the 2000 US Open final.

    It didn't happen but Safin can never be written off when it comes to the bigger events. They are what he plays for and he's capable of going on a hot streak which sweeps all before him notably in the 2002 and 2005 Australian Opens. If he reproduces the tennis which sent Djokovic crashing out we could be set for a classic semi-final with Federer come Friday

    However Stanislas Wawrinka will have something to say about that. The stylish Swiss is starting to establish himself as a future slam contender this year with some big performances in the masters series. He's yet to make the last 8 at a slam but given how easily he's breezed through the draw so far, that could change tomorrow

    He's played Safin twice winning both times. Wawrinka swept to a crushing 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win at last year's US Open and set the ball rolling for the best week of his career in Rome last month with a 6-7, 6-2, 6-1 victory. Safin didn't serve particularly well in either of those matches and Wawrinka's ability to work the angles and open up the court proved decisive.

    Very hard to predict a winner but providing that he serves well and gets that double handed backhand working my gut feeling is for Safin's experience to prevail in 5.

Tell a friend »

Comments


Write comment

You have to be logged in to comment. If you do not have an account, click here to register. It only takes a minute and you'll be redirected back to this page.
Username:

Password: