WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIP 2011: GENTLEMEN’S SINGLES DRAW – BOTTOM HALF
In this second instalment of a two part series we look at the bottom half of the gentlemen’s singles draw at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. The third Grand Slam of the season and the only one played on grass, kicks off on Monday, 20th June. The http://www.senore.com/WIMBLEDON-CHAMPIONSHIP-2011-GENTLEMENS-SINGLES-DRAW-TOP-HALF-a76268 of this series looked at the top half of the draw with potential matchups for the world number one Rafael Nadal and local hope, Andy Murray.
Headlining the bottom half of the draw are the two titans of tennis, world number two Novak Djokovic –Serbian juggernaut and world number three Roger Federer – Swiss maestro.
Sporting an impressive 40-1 win loss for the season, Djokovic opens his bid for the second Grand Slam win of season against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. This would be the pair’s sixth meeting on the courts with the Serb commanding a perfect 5-0 lead in the head-to-head.
Winner of seven titles this season, Djokovic was the unstoppable juggernaut a few weeks back before the Swiss maestro stopped his run at the 2011 Roland Garros in the semi-final. However, determined to win another Grand Slam this season, Djoker promises to shine at Wimbledon. Perhaps an easy draw for the Serb in his current form, the few hurdles that he might face could be the number one Cypriot, Marcos Baghdatis in the third round or in the fourth round; the Djoker could play either the 18th seeded Frenchman Michael Llodra or compatriot 13th seed Viktor Troicki.
Baghdatis opens against American James Blake while Troicki takes on Argentine Maximo Gonzalez in the first round. Llodra opens against local wildcard entrant James Ward. With no major upsets expected in this line-up, Djokovic is expected to make it to the quarterfinals and beyond here.
A probable meeting for the Serb in the quarterfinal could be 5th seed Robin Soderling from Swede or 11th seed Jurgen Melzer from Austria.
Opening against German Philipp Petzschner, Soderling looks at a prospective second round meeting against 2002 champion here, Aussie Lleyton Hewitt and a chance third round meeting with the former world number three Russian Nikolay Davydenko.
Playing Alejandro Falla in the opening round, Melzer looks at a relatively easy draw with several lowly ranked players. His prospective third round opponent could be 20th seeded German, Florian Mayer.
The Serb’s prospective semi-final opponent could be either Federer or seventh seed David Ferrer. The Serb would definitely be looking forward to paying the Swiss in full for the defeat the former suffered in the semi-final of the French Open.
A six time champion here, Federer looks for his seventh Wimbledon title and seventeenth Grand Slam title as he opens his bid against world number sixty, Mikhail Kukushkin from Kazakhstan. This will be the pair’s first ever meeting in their career. A probable opponent for the Swiss in the third round could be the 28th seeded Argentine David Nalbandian. With not so much smooth sailing for the Swiss, Federer could be facing Russian ace Mikhail Youzhny or 16th seed Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the fourth round.
Meeting Federer in the quarterfinal could very well be either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Ferrer. With mostly qualifiers in their part of the draw, a fourth round between Tsonga and Ferrer is very probable.
An interesting matchup in the bottom half is the first round match between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner. The two pros earlier clashed exactly one year ago to play the longest match ever at Wimbledon. Meeting in the first round of the 2010 edition, the players had played a five setter match that lasted for eleven hours and five minutes with the long set ending at 70-68 in Isner’s favour. Perhaps we’re in for another long first round match in the 125th edition of the event next week.
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