Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 1-0
2007 AMS Rome Clay Djokovic 62 75
Djokovic is bidding to reach his second successive Grand Slam semifinal, having reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at 2007 Roland Garros. He is contesting his third Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Djokovic defeated 2002 champion and No. 16 seed Lleyton Hewitt 76 76 46 76 in the round of 16. Previously he defeated Potito Starace 60 63 64 in the first round, Amer Delic 63 36 63 76 in the second, and Nicolas Kiefer 76 67 62 76 in the third.
Djokovic is bidding to become only the second Serbian player to reach the Wimbledon semifinals after Slobodan Zivojinovic in 1986. Zivojinovic, playing under the Yugoslav flag, went on to lose in the 1986 semifinals to Ivan Lendl 62 67 63 67 64.
This is Djokovic’s career-best performance on grass. He has played four previous events on the surface, with his previous best showing a round of 16 appearance at 2006 Wimbledon.
Through his round of 16 victory here, Djokovic has now accumulated a 45-10 win-loss record so far for 2007, placing him second behind Rafael Nadal (49-7) for total number of match wins.
Djokovic is the youngest player to reach this year’s quarterfinals, at 20 years and 39 days (age at end of event).
Djokovic warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching the round of 16 at Queen’s. As No. 4 seed, after a first round bye, he defeated Robert Kendrick 36 63 62 in the second round, before falling to Arnaud Clement 26 63 64.
Djokovic is making his third appearance at Wimbledon. On his debut in 2005, as a qualifier, he reached the third round before losing to No. 9 seed Sebastien Grosjean 75 64 57 64; and then in 2006 advanced to the round of 16, losing to No. 7 seed Mario Ancic 64 46 46 75 63.
Djokovic posted his best Grand Slam result at this year’s Roland Garros, as No. 6 seed advancing to the semifinals, where he lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal 75 64 62. He advanced to the last eight of a major for the first time at 2006 Roland Garros, retiring with a lower back injury while trailing Nadal 64 64.
As well as losing to the eventual champion at this year’s Roland Garros, Djokovic also fell to the eventual champion at this year’s Australian Open, losing to Roger Federer 62 75 63 in the round of 16.
Djokovic has won three tour titles in 2007: Adelaide (d. Chris Guccione 63 67 64), AMS Miami (d. Guillermo Canas 63 62 64) and Estoril (d. Richard Gasquet 76 06 61), taking his career total to five titles. He also reached the final at AMS Indian Wells (l. Rafael Nadal 62 75).
Djokovic achieved a career-high ranking of No. 4 on 11 June 2007.
Baghdatis is bidding to reach the semifinals for the second successive year. He is contesting his third Grand Slam quarterfinal, having won both previous quarterfinals at the 2006 Australian Open and 2006 Wimbledon.
Baghdatis upset No. 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko 76 63 63 in the round of 16. Previously he defeated Ernests Gulbis 36 64 63 62 in the first round, Nicolas Devilder 60 76 67 62 in the second, and No. 23 seed David Nalbandian 62 75 60 in the third.
Following his round of 16 victory over Davydenko, Baghdatis now has a 9-10 career win-loss record against Top 10 players.
Baghdatis warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching his first grass court final at Halle, where he lost to Tomas Berdych 75 64. He then withdrew from ’s-Hertogenbosch with a foot injury. Baghdatis has now won 16 of his last 19 grass court matches, having also reached the semifinals at 2006 ’s-Hertogenbosch.
Baghdatis is making his third consecutive Wimbledon appearance. He had his best result here last year, reaching the semifinals by defeating Andy Murray 63 64 76 in the last 16, and No. 6 seed Lleyton Hewitt 61 57 76 62 in the quarterfinals, before losing to No. 2 Rafael Nadal 61 75 63. He lost to Mikhail Youzhny 62 36 61 64 in the first round on his debut in 2005.
2006 was an outstanding year for Baghdatis. Before reaching the Wimbledon semifinals, he advanced to his first Grand Slam final at the 2006 Australian Open, as world No. 54 recording three consecutive wins over Top Ten players – No. 3 Andy Roddick in the round of 16, No. 8 Ivan Ljubicic in the quarterfinals and No. 4 David Nalbandian in the semifinals – before falling in the final to No. 1 Roger Federer 57 75 60 62.
This year Baghdatis won the second title of his career at Zagreb on indoor carpet (d. Ivan Ljubicic 76 46 64 in the final), and reached finals at Marseille on indoor hard (l. Gilles Simon 64 76), and at Halle on grass (see above). In Grand Slam play, he reached the second round at the Australian Open (l. Gael Monfils 76 62 26 60), and round of 16 at Roland Garros (l. Igor Andreev 26 61 63 64).
Baghdatis moved back to Limassol, Cyprus this year, having trained in Paris since the age of 13 on an Olympic Solidarity Youth Development Progamme Scholarship. He was also a member of an ITF Development Touring Team in 1999, funded by the Grand Slam Development Fund.
