Wimbledon match preview: Davydenko v Baghdatis

Head-to-head: Davydenko leads 1-0

2006 AMS Miami Hard Davydenko won 26 62 75

Davydenko has reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon for the first time, and has now appeared in the round of 16 at all four majors. He defeated fellow Russian Evgeny Korolev 76 64 76 in the first round, Chris Guccione 36 57 76 64 62 in the second, and Gael Monfils 63 75 63 in the third.

This is Davydenko’s sixth appearance at Wimbledon. Prior to this year, Davydenko had won just one match here, that being in 2005, when he defeated Scott Draper 76 64 63 in the first round, before losing in the second round to Jonas Bjorkman 76 21 ret. (wrist injury). Last year, he lost to qualifier Alejandro Falla 26 76 76 63 in the first round.

Davydenko is bidding to reach his fourth consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, and his eighth in total. He has never lost in the round of 16 at a Grand Slam.

If Davydenko defeats Baghdatis, he will complete a set of Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances. He has made quarterfinal appearances at each of the other three majors: for the past three years at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, and at the US Open last year.

Davydenko’s best Grand Slam results are three semifinal finishes, achieved at Roland Garros in 2005 and in 2007, and the 2006 US Open.

It is six years since a Russian reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Marat Safin doing so in 2001. There have never been two Russians in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Before Davydenko’s victories in the first three rounds here, he had won just two tour-level grass matches in his career, from 14 such matches played. Following his first round victory here in 2005, his second tour-level grass court win was at Halle just over two weeks ago, when as No. 2 seed he defeated Jurgen Melzer 76 46 62 in the first round, losing in the second round to Florian Mayer 64 64.

Although Davydenko has yet to win a title in 2007, he has had some good results on surfaces other than grass this season. He was a semifinalist at Roland Garros for the second time, and reached the quarterfinals at the 2007 Australian Open. Away from the Slams, Davydenko’s highlights are semifinal finishes at Doha, Rotterdam and AMS Rome, and quarterfinal finishes at Barcelona and Portschach.

Baghdatis 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.

To view the rest of the information about Marcos Baghdatis click on the related post: Wimbledon match preview: Baghdatis v Nalbandian

Roddick, Nadal and Djokovic advance in Wimbledon

Third seed Andy Roddick completed a win over Paul-Henri Mathieu on Centre Court on Wednesday.

The American was about to serve for a two-set lead when rain stopped play on Tuesday evening, and he duly served it out in Wednesday’s opening game.

Roddick then dropped serve in the third but recovered from 5-3 down, and then 5-0 down in the tie-break, to win 6-2 7-5 7-6 (8-6).

He will play Richard Gasquet or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight.

Describing his remarkable comeback in the third-set tie-break, Roddick said: “He doesn’t have a serve where he’s going to hit aces the whole time, so I never felt completely out of it.

Nadal completed what he described as “the toughest match of my career” by winning the fifth set on Wednesday, saving a break point before converting his fifth match point in game four of the day. The pair had begun with the knock-up on Saturday evening, enduring seven rain breaks across five days, before Nadal won 6-4 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 4-6 7-5.

Rafael Nadal said that Wimbledon officials “did not think about the players” after his rain-interrupted win over Robin Soderling. It had been a bad-tempered clash, with Soderling mimicking Nadal at one stage and the pair barely shaking hands at the end.

But the Spaniard was unhappy with how the weather situation had been handled.

“I don’t understand why we don’t play on Sunday when the weather was OK,” said Nadal

Novak Djokovic beat Nicolas Kiefer in the final third-round match.

The pair resumed at one set all and fourth seed Djokovic immediately took control on Court Two, breaking twice to wrap up the third set.

The Serb missed numerous break points in the fourth and was taken to a tie-break before winning 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 7-6 (7-5), and he faces Lleyton Hewitt in round four.

The 20-year-old’s view on the scheduling debate was clear. “What I didn’t agree with is that there was no play on Sunday,” he said. “I think it’s a bad decision by the organisers.

(source: BBC)

Davydenko bored in Wimbledon

Nikolay Davydenko has joined his Russian Davis Cup team mate Marat Safin in criticising the way Wimbledon is run.

“Wimbledon is the world’s most boring tournament,” Davydenko told the Sovietsky Sport newspaper. “There’s hardly anything to do apart from tennis. You constantly find yourself yawning, there’s no entertainment here.”

The world No 4 has never found himself at ease on the slick grass courts at the All England Club, failing to progress beyond the second round in his five previous visits to London.

“We’re staying in the city centre, so it’s a bit better,” said the Russian, who has this year reached the last 32 for the first time.

“If we rented a house near Wimbledon it would have been a total bore. There’s absolutely nothing to do besides tennis.”

(source: scotsman) (photo: getty images)

Wimbledon match preview: Ferrero v Tipsarevic

Head-to-head: Ferrero leads 1-0

2006 Australian Open Hard (O) R64 Ferrero won 63 36 57 63 62

Ferrero advanced to the round of 16 for the third time in seven Wimbledon appearances when he upset No. 9 seed James Blake 36 63 63 76 in the third round. In the first round he defeated Jan Hajek 67 46 63 62 75 followed by qualifier Gilles Muller 64 64 67 76 in the second.

Ferrero is bidding to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time, having lost his two previous round of 16 matches here. In 2003, as No. 3 seed, he lost at this stage to No. 13 seed Sebastien Grosjean 62 46 76 76 and in 2005, he fell to eventual champion Roger Federer 63 64 76.

Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam event where Ferrero has failed to reach the quarterfinal stage. He advanced to the quarterfinals or better at 2000-03 Roland Garros, the 2003-04 Australian Open, and the 2003 US Open.

Ferrero’s career highlight was winning the 2003 Roland Garros title, defeating Martin Verkerk 61 63 62 in the final. Roland Garros is the major at which Ferrero has enjoyed most success, having also finished runner-up there in 2002 and reached the semifinals in 2000-01. Ferrero was also runner-up at the 2003 US Open and a semifinalist at the 2004 Australian Open.

Ferrero was one of 14 Spaniards to start in the draw here (the joint-second highest nation representation at 2007 Wimbledon behind France) and he is one of two Spaniards still alive in the competition, the other being Rafael Nadal.

Ferrero is bidding to become the fifth Spanish man to advance to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in the Open Era after Andres Gimeno in 1970, Manuel Orantes in 1972, Feliciano Lopez in 2005 and Rafael Nadal last year. Of these four men, Gimeno and Orantes went on to reach the semifinals while Nadal finished as runner-up.

Ferrero was won of eight Grand Slam champions to appear in the 2007 Wimbledon main draw, and five champions are still alive in this year’s competition, including Ferrero. The other four are Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick.

Ferrero has won 11 singles titles in his career, but none since 2003. He has eight clay court titles and three hard court titles but none on grass.

Ferrero played just one match on grass before coming here, losing in the first round at ’s-Hertogenbosch to Carlos Berlocq 26 63 62.

Ferrero’s best results of the year to date have been on clay. He reached the final at Costa do Sauipe in February (l. Guillermo Canas 76 62) and also won four matches to advance to the semifinals at AMS Monte Carlo (l. Roger Federer 63 64).

Ferrero achieved the No. 1 spot in the rankings on 8 September 2003, after reaching the 2003 US Open final was ranked there for eight weeks. He is one of four men to have been ranked No. 1 still alive at this year’s Wimbledon, along with top seed Roger Federer, No. 3 seed Andy Roddick and No. 16 seed Lleyton Hewitt.

Tipsarevic advanced to the round of 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time at Wimbledon, by winning three five-set matches and improving his five-set record to 10-3. He began his Wimbledon campaign by defeating Alexander Peya 46 36 63 64 63 in the first round, Florent Serra 63 62 67 36 62 in the second and No. 5 seed Fernando Gonzalez 63 36 63 46 86 in the third round.

In defeating Gonzalez, Tipsarevic recorded his first career victory over a Top 10 player.

Tipsarevic is the fourth man to win all of his first three matches in five sets at Wimbledon in the Open Era, behind Russell Simpson (1982), Alex Radulescu (1996) and Jason Stoltenberg (1998).

No man has played four five-set matches through the first four rounds at Wimbledon in the Open Era. However, Jan Kodes played a record four consecutive five-set matches at Wimbledon in 1974, from the second round through to the quarterfinals. He lost his quarterfinal match 36 63 63 68 63 to Jimmy Connors.

Five men have played four successive five-set matches at a Grand Slam tournament, but all of them lost their fourth match. However, at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Goran Ivanisevic played and won four five-set matches in a row en route to a semifinal finish.

Tipsarevic has posted his best Grand Slam result by reaching the round of 16 here. His previous best performances at a major were two third round appearances – at 2005 Wimbledon, where he lost to Thomas Johansson 62 63 61, and at this year’s Roland Garros where he lost to Tommy Robredo 63 64 60.

Tipsarevic is the third different Serbian to reach the last 16 here, after Slobodan Zivojinovic, who reached this stage in 1986-89, and Novak Djokovic, who reached this stage last year. (Djokovic could still reach this stage again if he defeats Nicolas Kiefer in their third round clash.)

Tipsarevic is bidding to become the second Serb to advance to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in the Open Era after Slobodan Zivojinovic in 1986-87.

Tipsarevic is also bidding to win his first match against a Spaniard in six meetings. As well as losing to Ferrero at the 2006 Australian Open (see head-to-head), Tipsarevic has also lost to Fernando Vicente, (2005 Roland Garros), Tommy Robredo (2005 Umag and 2007 Roland Garros) and David Ferrer (2007 AMS Indian Wells).

Last year at Wimbledon, Tipsarevic lost in the first round, falling to Andy Roddick 67 64 76 62.

Tipsarevic has now won three consecutive matches for the first time in his tour-level career. His best performances throughout his professional career, outside of the Grand Slams, is winning two matches to reach the quarterfinals at 2006 Nottingham, 2006 Moscow, 2007 AMS Indian Wells and this year’s ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

After a poor start to the year – he lost in the first round of his first six tournaments – Tipsarevic reached at least the second round of his subsequent seven tournaments including this one. He also won the Zagreb challenger on clay in May and climbed to a career-high ranking of No. 62 on 18 June. He plays here ranked No. 64.

Tipsarevic warmed up for Wimbledon at Queen’s and ’s-Hertogenbosch. After losing to Fernando Gonzalez in the second round at Queen’s, he went on to reach the second grass court quarterfinal of his career at ’s-Hertogenbosch, losing to eventual champion Ivan Ljubicic 63 67 63.

Berdych too good for Hyung-Taik Lee

Tomas Berdych had to battle through three tight sets against South Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee to reach the fourth round. The Czech eventually won 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3).

The opening set was a little predictable, with both men holding their service games as they sized each other up, looking for weaknesses to exploit. It was in the sixth game that Berdych took his opportunity to break Lee. The Korean was serving with the slower balls that were about to be replaced in the following game, allowing Berdych to hit strong returns and earn two break points. He converted one to take the first set 6-4.

The Czech was serving at 3-2 to Lee and advantage to Berdych when rain halted the action and the players had to wait until Monday to continue.

When the battle restarted today, Berdych and Lee traded blows from the baseline and held their service games to take the second set to a tiebreak.

Berdych then found the level of play that earned him his first grass court title in Halle. He left the Korean battered and bruised in a series of points that saw the Czech win the tiebreak 7-2. He maintained his momentum to hold serve in the third set and then immediately broke the deflating Lee.

But then, just as the set seemed to be slipping away from him, Lee astonishingly had three rare break points on the Czech’s serve, to the delight of the large number of Koreans in the crowd. Lee’s revival almost took the match into a fourth set as he fought back to another tiebreak. But Berdych showed his class by stamping his authority again in the tiebreak, winning it 7-3.

(source: Wimbledon, photo: getty images)

Wimbledon match preview: Gasquet v Tsonga

Head-to-head: first meeting

This is the Gasquet’s and Tsonga’s first tour meeting. Although they are both French and very close in age, they have never played each other as professionals. However, they did meet three times on the ITF Junior Circuit with Gasquet winning each time.

Gasquet takes on Tsonga in the fifth all French match-up at Wimbledon this year. The most all-French match-ups here in the Open Era previously was three, those being in 2004. France was the most represented nation in the 2007 men’s draw: 15 French players started here.

Tsonga is the third Frenchmen that Gasquet has played at 2007 Wimbledon. With his wins over Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the second and third rounds here, Gasquet has improved his Grand Slam record against countrymen to 5-0. He had never played a Frenchman at Wimbledon before this year. Gasquet has a 19-9 career record against Frenchmen.

Today marks Tsonga’s first tour-level meeting with a Frenchman.

Gasquet and Tsonga are two of four men in the top half of the draw to have reached the round of 16 without dropping a set. The others are Roger Federer and Andy Roddick.

Gasquet defeated qualifier Bohdan Ulihrach 63 64 64 in the opening round, qualifier Nicolas Mahut 64 63 64 in the second round and qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin 63 64 62 in the third round. This was the first time that Gasquet had faced three qualifiers in a row at any tournament.

Gasquet is making his fourth consecutive appearance at Wimbledon. Last year, he lost in the first round to eventual champion Roger Federer 63 62 62.

Gasquet is bidding to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. He previously reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2005, losing to David Nalbandian 64 76 60. He also reached the round of 16 at the 2005 and 2006 US Open, and the 2007 Australian Open.

Gasquet has played two previous matches against wild cards at Grand Slam events and has a 2-0 record. He defeated Phillip Simmonds 61 63 61 in the first round at the 2006 US Open and Nicolas Mahut 63 62 62 in the first round at 2007 Roland Garros.

Gasquet played the grass court warm-up events this year at Halle and Nottingham. He lost in the first round at Halle to Aisam Qureshi 76 64, and reached the quarterfinals at Nottingham. At Nottingham, Gasquet was bidding to create tournament history by winning the title for three consecutive years, but persistent rain forced his quarterfinal match against Arnaud Clement to be moved to indoor hard court – he lost 64 63.

Gasquet’s best result on any surface to date this year was finishing runner-up at Estoril on clay, falling to Novak Djokovic 76 06 61. He was also a semifinalist at Sydney and a quarterfinalist at Adelaide, Marseille and AMS Monte Carlo.

Gasquet began the Grand Slam year with a round of 16 finish at the Australian Open, defeating compatriot Gael Monfils 60 46 75 63 in the third round before losing to Tommy Robredo 64 62 36 64.

Gasquet has won four titles in his career. As well as winning at Nottingham in 2005 and 2006, he was victorious on clay at Gstaad in 2006 and on indoor carpet at Lyon in the same year.

Tsonga has reached the round of 16 on his Wimbledon debut. He defeated countryman Julien Benneteau 76 75 64 in the first round, Nicolas Lapentti 64 62 63 in the second round and Feliciano Lopez 63 76 63 in the third round.

Tsonga’s three victories here are his first at a major. He lost in the first round to Andy Roddick at both 2005 Roland Garros (63 62 64) and the 2007 Australian Open (67 76 63 63). The first-set tiebreak that Tsonga and Roddick played at this year’s Australian Open stretched to 20-18, setting a new record for the longest-known tie break at the Australian Open and equalling the record for the longest-known tiebreak at any tournament.

Tsonga is playing only his third Grand Slam event and has always played as a wild card.

Tsonga is now bidding to become just the third wild card to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. The two men to have done this so far are Pat Cash in 1986 and Goran Ivanisevic in 2001, Ivanisevic going on to win the title. (Wild cards were introduced to Wimbledon in 1997.)

Tsonga is looking to become the first debutant to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Florian Mayer in 2004, Mayer losing in the quarterfinals to Lleyton Hewitt 64 62 46 76.

Tsonga attempted to qualify for 2003 and 2004 Roland Garros and the 2004 US Open, but fell in the second qualifying round each time.

Tsonga has won three matches at tour level for the first time. He won two successive tour-level matches for the first time at Queen’s last month as a qualifier, defeating Kristian Pless and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the first two rounds before falling to Marin Cilic 46 63 62.

Prior to Queen’s, Tsonga won the Surbiton Challenger on grass, defeating Ivo Karlovic 63 76 in the final. This was Tsonga’s eighth challenger title and his second such title on grass, having won the Nottingham challenger in 2004.

From the Surbiton Challenger through the third round here, Tsonga has won 13 of his 14 matches on grass this year (including qualifying at Queen’s).

Tsonga reached the semifinals of the boys’ singles at 2003 Wimbledon (l. eventual champion Florin Mergea 64 67 64). He finished No. 2 on the ITF Junior World rankings behind Marcos Baghdatis in 2003, having won the US Open boys’ singles title that year.

Since moving to the men’s tour, Tsonga has suffered several injuries. He didn’t play between November 2004 and March 2005 due to a herniated disc. He then contested just three tournaments between July 2005 and February 2006, retiring in one and conceding a walkover in another, due to shoulder, back and abdominal injuries. As a result of this inactivity, his ranking dropped from No. 133 on 23 May 2005 to No. 404 on 3 April 2006. Since then his ranking has risen to a career-high of No. 110.

As a result of reaching the round of 16 here, Tsonga is projected to break into the Top 100 when the new rankings are published on 9 July 2007.

Since returning to the circuit in February 2006, Tsonga has won five Challenger titles and four Futures titles.

Jo Wilfred Tsonga: the forgotten tennis prospect returns

While Andy Murray makes headline news without even playing at Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic wins new fans with every match he plays (especially those of a female persuasion) and Richard Gasquet continues to amaze with his sublime talents and frustrate with his lack of consistency, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is the forgotten man of the new generation.

The tall 22-year-old Frenchman – who is the spitting image of a young Muhammad Ali – arrived on the professional scene with a bang, making his breakthrough alongside Gael Monfils at the Masters Series event in Paris in 2004. Given wild cards into the qualifying competition, both men earned their place in the main draw and both won a round, Tsonga beating Mario Ancic. With that win coming on the back of a victory over Carlos Moya at the Beijing tournament a couple of moths before, it was no wonder that France sat up and took notice – here were two young stars of the future.

But while Monfils built on that start and worked his way up the world pecking order, breaking into the top 30 last year, no more was heard of Tsonga. Pushed out of the spotlight in his home country by Monfils and Gasquet and completely overtaken by Murray, Djokovic, Marcos Baghdatis and Tomas Berdych, no one knew or cared where he was.

He was, in fact, at the doctors, asking for attention to a series of injuries that robbed him of the first three years of his career. It all began with a herniated disc in his back and was followed up with shoulder and knee problems. When the medics finally cleared him to get back to work, Tsonga was still restricted to playing just eight tournaments a year in 2005 and 2006. When he was able to play, he tended to win, but he was not able to play enough to break out of the challenger circuit.

As it turned out, those two years were the making of Tsonga. As a junior, he was regarded as a man of immense talent but very little brain. He had the game to get to the top but appeared to have low fighting spirit . In 2003, he was one match away from finishing the year as the junior world champion but when the day of the match came he was well beaten and could not bear to watch as Baghdatis overtook him in the rankings and was lauded as the great hope of the future. It was the sort of collapse Tsonga could not imagine happening now.

Focused, dedicated and determined, Tsonga knows that he has been given a second chance and he refuses to waste it. He also knows that he is good – and gradually the rest of the boys in the locker room are beginning to realise it, too.

At the start of this year, he got a wild card in the Australian Open as part of a reciprocal arrangement between the French and Australian tennis federations. Although he did not win his opening match against Andy Roddick, he gave the American a fright. Here was a man who could serve as hard as Roddick, who could hit the ball as hard as Roddick and who believed that he had as much right to be in the second round as Roddick. Suddenly the world began to remember this Tsonga.

Part of the maturing process is knowing your own limitations and where the younger, more immature Tsonga would have jumped at the chance to play at his home grand slam, Tsonga turned down the wild card offered to him this year by the French Tennis Federation. He had just won four challenger titles in five attempts and he was tired. After all his injury problems, he was not sure that his body could withstand best of five set matches on clay at Roland Garros, so he politely refused.

Instead, he came to Britain, won the Surbiton challenger while, at the same time, qualifying for Queen’s and now has arrived in a blaze of glory at Wimbledon.

Now he plays Gasquet for a place in the quarter finals. In fact, Tsonga can barely wait for the match to start. After every win, he points to an imaginary number on his back, as if he were wearing a football shirt. It is to show everyone that he is still part of the team, he is still part of the new generation of potential world beaters.

(via scotsman, photo: getty images)

Wimbledon match preview: Baghdatis v Nalbandian

Head-to-head: Baghdatis leads 2-1

Baghdatis defeated Latvian Ernests Gulbis 36 64 63 62 in the first round and then recorded the 100th victory of his career in defeating Nicolas Devilder 60 76 67 64 in the second.

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 Lleyton Hewitt 61 57 76 62 in the quarterfinals, before losing to 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 semifnials – before falling in the final to No. 1 Roger Federer 57 75 60 62.

By contrast, Baghdatis lost in the second rounds at 2006 Roland Garros and the 2006 US Open, but the above results combined with winning his first career title at 2006 Beijing saw his ranking jump up 44 places throughout the year to end the season at No. 12.

This is Baghdatis’s 12th Grand Slam event and he is bidding to reach the round of 16 at a major for the fifth time.

In 2007, Baghdatis has picked up where he left off in 2006, although his Grand Slam results have been less impressive so far. He won his second career title at Zagreb on indoor carpet (d. Ivan Ljubicic 76 46 64 in the final), and also reached another final two weeks later at Marseille on indoor hard (l. to Gilles Simon 64 76), and a third final at Halle on grass (l. Tomas Berdych 75 64). His best Grand Slam result to date this season was a round of 16 appearance at Roland Garros (l. Igor Andreev 26 61 63 64).

2007 Halle marked Baghdatis’s first career grass court final. That was the only tournament he played on this surface ahead of 2007 Wimbledon, as he then withdrew from ’s-Hertogenbosch with a foot injury.

Baghdatis was ITF Junior World Champion in 2003, winning the boys’ singles at the Australian Open and finishing runner-up in that event at the US Open that year. He fared less well at Wimbledon during his junior career, losing in the boys’ singles second round on both of his appearances here, in 2001-02.

Nalbandian, playing in his fifth Wimbledon, defeated qualifier Mischa Zverev 63 64 62 in the first round and lucky loser Frank Dancevic 62 63 57 63 in the second round.

Nalbandian has maintained his record of always reaching the third round at Wimbledon. Last year he lost at this stage for the first time, losing to Fernando Verdasco 76 76 62, his earliest Wimbledon exit.

Nalbandian reached his first Grand Slam final on his Wimbledon debut in 2002. He defeated Nicolas Lapentti 64 64 46 46 64 in the quarterfinals and Xavier Malisse 76 64 16 26 62 in the semifinals, before losing to Lleyton Hewitt 61 63 62 in the final. This is his most successful Grand Slam performance to date and remarkably was achieved in his first ever professional grass court event.

Since reaching the final in 2002, Nalbandian’s best performance at Wimbledon has been a quarterfinal finish in 2005 (l. Thomas Johansson 76 62 62).

Nalbandian is one of two active players, along with Roger Federer, to have reached the semifinals or better at all four Grand Slams. He reached that stage here in 2002 en route to the final (see above), at the 2003 US Open, and at 2004 Roland Garros, and completed the set at the 2006 Australian Open. He reached his fifth Grand Slam semifinal at 2006 Roland Garros.

Nalbandian is playing a Top 10 player for the 53rd time in his career. He has a 20-32 win-loss record in his previous meetings with Top 10 players.

Nalbandian is joined in the third round by Guillermo Canas, who plays Lleyton Hewitt today. If both Argentines win today and advance to the round of 16, it will mark the second time in the Open Era that two Argentines have advanced to the round of 16 at Wimbledon. Nalbandian and Guillermo Coria achieved this for the first time in 2005.

Nalbandian warmed up for Wimbledon at Halle, but as No. 7 seed lost in the first round to Marc Gicquel 57 62 64.

Nalbandian reached the round of 16 at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros this year, losing to Tommy Haas 46 63 62 63 and Nikolay Davydenko 63 76 36 76 at that stage respectively.

Nalbandian’s other highlight of 2007 was reaching the quarterfinals at Barcelona. After a first round bye, he defeated two Spaniards (Alberto Martin and Carlos Moya) in the next two rounds before losing to another Spaniard David Ferrer 76 62.

Wimbledon: 50th straight win for Federer on grass

Wimbledon champion Roger Federer took just 11 minutes to wrap up a convincing 6-2 7-5 6-1 win over Argentine teen Juan Martin del Potro.

Federer returned with a two-set lead and soon secured his 50th straight win on grass. Federer’s next opponent is Marat Safin on Friday.

There were also wins for Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt and Novak Djokovic.

Federer enjoyed a fairly easy victory against the 18 year old Argentininan as he was in control through the whole match.

Federer dominated the match with a number on unretunable serves and some amazing shots that Del Potro had no answer to. He is very pleased with this victory, but he expects a tough challenge from Marat Safin in the third round.

Elsewhere, fifth seed Nadal enjoyed an easy day’s work with a 6-2 6-4 6-1 second-round victory over Austrian Werner Eschauer.

The Spaniard produced some outstanding groundstrokes on his way to a comfortable win and will now face 28th seed Roger Soderling of Sweden, who beat Frenchman Sebastian Grosjean 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2.

It was a good day for the seeds in general, though sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko had to battle from two sets down to reach the third round as he finally beat Australian Chris Guccione 3-6 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-2.

Fourth seed Djokovic needed four sets to get past world number 67 Amer Delic, finally seeing off the American 6-3 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4). Delic played very well, especially on the net, but Djokovic prevailed with his famous all around game hitting some great shots off the base line and playing well on the net.

Australian 2002 champion Hewitt steamrolled through his second-round match against Italian Simone Bolelli 6-2 6-2 6-1.

American ninth seed James Blake enjoyed a second straight-sets win to move into the third round, defeating Romania’s Andrei Pavel 6-4 6-3 6-3.

The 15th seed Ivan Ljubicic needed just over an hour-and-a-half to get past Czech Jan Hernych 6-4 6-3 6-4 in his rain-delayed second-round match.

Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu faces the big Croatian next after he beat David Ferrer 6-3 6-4 6-3.

Big-serving Australian Wayne Arthurs defeated the Spanish 11th seed Tommy Robredo with a 6-3 7-6 (7/5) 6-3. But, it is a known fact that Robredo is playing very poor on grass.

Wimbledon from the view of a ball boy

Teenager Paul Baker, the ball boy in Wimbledon, is probably the happiest person in the world, especially among tennis fans.

He will never forget the day when,at the age of 14, he was a ball boy on Centre Court for the 2006 final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. All those months of training, all those 12-hour days at the tournament were worth it. He said:

“When Federer won the final point, I was right there, I got goosebumps,”

“You have a smirk on your face afterwards. You cannot describe the feeling – but it is a good one,” he said.

“I loved every minute of it and I wanted to do it again,” he said after coming off centre court as ball boy to Federer in his opening match at this year’s tournament.

The London schoolboy said that it was too late for him to start practicing tennis at the age of 15 and added: “Nadal started when he was four, Federer when he was five.”

He also mentioned the contrasting temperaments of the two best players in the world:

“Federer is very gentleman-like. Nadal is more wanting to win every point, that sort of passion for the game,”

It was his debut appearance at Wimbledon last year and as he said: ” It was very intimidating but a great experience. I was shivering with nerves the first time.”

Being a ball boy requires lightning-fast reflexes, and Paul had the ultimate test when he was on court with Andy Roddick:

“I did Roddick once. You have got to move as soon as you see the ball coming,” he said.
“You don’t realise how hard they are hitting the ball until you have been a ball boy. It is coming straight at you.”

(source: Reuters)