Its been a crazy tournament so far, what with players with apparently huge grass court games like Isner and Berdych falling early, obviously Nadal's shock loss, and Federer barely scraping past Benneteau last night.
So lets look at the big names: starting with the biggest at the moment: Novak Djokovic. Novak has looked good so far this tournament, but by no means great by his ridiculously high standards. His first set lost so far this tournament came at the hands of Radek Stepanek, who looked like he was going to cause Novak some troubles with his imperious net-rushing, but Djokovic found the answers and came through without too much drama. Next up for him, compatriot Viktor Troicki- a very talented athlete, but I don't see Djokovic having much trouble coming through that match. Novak holds an 11-1 career head-to-head against his countryman, and last lost to Troicki way back in 2007. Djokovic comes through in straight-sets
Next up Federer. He came through that tough match against Benneteau, showing his composure under pressure in a match that looked lost. Fed is in a bit of a softer part of the draw, and his round of 16 match against Malisse shouldn't phase him too much. Federer has only lost to Malisse once in his career, more than a decade ago- in 1999! Since then he has won 10 straight matches and I imagine he's going to make it another one. Federer in 3 sets in the battle of the old-timers!
In the lower half of the draw we have the home favourite; Andy Murray who battled his way through a tricky round of 32 match against the extremely talented Baghdatis late on Saturday night. Murray looked very passive in that match, a constant issue raised by his (many it seems) critics. His next match against Cillic should be fairly routine. These guys have played each other at all the other 3 Grand Slams- this will complete the quartet. Murray succumbed to Cilic just once, in the 2009 US Open, but I think the home crowd and Murray's experience will stop a repeat of that performance. The tall Croat will bring a massive serve and powerful strokes to the confrontation, but seeing as how well Murray returns I expect him to come through in 4 sets (I'm going to take a shot that two going to tiebreaks- Murray drops one and wins one)
Outside the top 4 (well now 3) seeds, the biggest threats in the draw for me are Gasquet, who I can see giving Djokovic a world of trouble in the quarters if he can keep his head straight. Del Potro if he hits the amazing form that we all know he is capable of, and of course the gifted Frenchman Jo-Wilfied Tsonga.
So predictions for the rest of the round of 16.
Gasquet vs Mayer: Gasquet in 4 sets, the talented Frenchman is looking to strong for the German.
Istomin vs Youzhny: Going to go against experience, and say Istomin in 5 sets. (Could be wildly wrong here)
Ferrer vs Del Potro: I think this is going to be the best match in this round of matches, a great stylistic contrast between the hustling, 5'9'' Ferrer against the huge-hitting 6'6'' Del Potro. These two have never met on grass and I feel like the surface is going to really favour Del Potro in this confrontation. Very difficult to call but I think Del Potro in 5 sets.
Tsonga-Fish: Tsonga in straight-sets, I think Fish isn't (after his surgery and recent-comeback) ready to beat a player of Tsonga's class yet.
Baker vs Kohlschreiber: Baker for me has been my favourite tennis story of this year, (more to come in a later post) and I really want him to do well in this tournament. However I think his tournament ends here, in the very experienced and constantly underrated Kohlschreiber. The plucky American goes down in 4 sets. (but I hope I'm wrong!)
Ok so tomorrow I expect to be eating my words here, its my first set of predictions on this blog so no doubt I'll get about 1 out of 8! Lets see though!
In the lower half of the draw we have the home favourite; Andy Murray who battled his way through a tricky round of 32 match against the extremely talented Baghdatis late on Saturday night. Murray looked very passive in that match, a constant issue raised by his (many it seems) critics. His next match against Cillic should be fairly routine. These guys have played each other at all the other 3 Grand Slams- this will complete the quartet. Murray succumbed to Cilic just once, in the 2009 US Open, but I think the home crowd and Murray's experience will stop a repeat of that performance. The tall Croat will bring a massive serve and powerful strokes to the confrontation, but seeing as how well Murray returns I expect him to come through in 4 sets (I'm going to take a shot that two going to tiebreaks- Murray drops one and wins one)
Outside the top 4 (well now 3) seeds, the biggest threats in the draw for me are Gasquet, who I can see giving Djokovic a world of trouble in the quarters if he can keep his head straight. Del Potro if he hits the amazing form that we all know he is capable of, and of course the gifted Frenchman Jo-Wilfied Tsonga.
So predictions for the rest of the round of 16.
Gasquet vs Mayer: Gasquet in 4 sets, the talented Frenchman is looking to strong for the German.
Istomin vs Youzhny: Going to go against experience, and say Istomin in 5 sets. (Could be wildly wrong here)
Ferrer vs Del Potro: I think this is going to be the best match in this round of matches, a great stylistic contrast between the hustling, 5'9'' Ferrer against the huge-hitting 6'6'' Del Potro. These two have never met on grass and I feel like the surface is going to really favour Del Potro in this confrontation. Very difficult to call but I think Del Potro in 5 sets.
Tsonga-Fish: Tsonga in straight-sets, I think Fish isn't (after his surgery and recent-comeback) ready to beat a player of Tsonga's class yet.
Baker vs Kohlschreiber: Baker for me has been my favourite tennis story of this year, (more to come in a later post) and I really want him to do well in this tournament. However I think his tournament ends here, in the very experienced and constantly underrated Kohlschreiber. The plucky American goes down in 4 sets. (but I hope I'm wrong!)
Ok so tomorrow I expect to be eating my words here, its my first set of predictions on this blog so no doubt I'll get about 1 out of 8! Lets see though!
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