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  • Cincinnati Third Quarter Preview

    7/28/08 4:20 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - The third section of the Masters Series Cincinnati draw will be marked by extremely hard hitting, as an inordinate amount of ball-bashers grace this quarter. With Djokovic's recent loss to Murry, it could be wide open for anyone to win.

    Novak Djokovic is definitely the favorite to advance out of his quarter of the Cincinnati draw into the semifinals, but unless he picks up the pace after his quarterfinal loss to Andy Murray in Toronto, a host of talented contenders could make a surprising run to the weekend.

    No. 7 seed James Blake has the other first-round bye in this section. Also looming large in the third portion of the field are Indianapolis winner and Toronto semifinalist Gilles Simon, Toronto runner-up Nicolas Kiefer, French Open quarterfinalist Ernests Gulbis, top ten player Stanislas Wawrinka, and huge hitters Fernando Gonzalez and Tomas Berdych.

    It's a little premature to look at the big picture quite yet because some scintillating first-round matchups are in store for the Cincinnati faithful. Berdych just missed out on being seeded this week, and as such he has to face 13th-seeded Gonzalez in round one. That has to be the most brutal opening-round tilt of the entire tournament. Kiefer and Simon have to do their Toronto semifinal clash all over again right away in Cincinnati. Gulbis will kick off Day 1 action, playing the first match on the Grandstand against rock-solid Jarkko Nieminen. Meanwhile, Simone Bolelli will take on qualifier Kevin Anderson in a battle of up-and-comers.

    Djokovic plays the winner of that match and could get either Gonzalez or Berdych in round three. Blake, who got destroyed by Kiefer in the Toronto quarterfinals, will get a shot at revenge if the German beats Simon once again.

    The third-seeded Serb is by far the most consistent of this crop and he should be able to make amends for his Toronto shortcomings and take care of business, but he has to realize that his quarter is dangerous. Whenever guys like Gonzalez, Blake, and Gulbis get hot, it takes a lot to slow them down. The question is, will anyone get hot enough to challenger the Djoker?

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