Wimbledon 2010: Preview of Day 6
Day six will mark the end of the first week of the Wimbledon Championships 2010. Sunday is usually a rest day or a spare day in case matches have been postponed due to bad weather. This year however, the weather has been on the side of the organizers as no major disruptions have been witnessed. It has been a week full of action and surprises and the fixtures on Day six will not disappoint either.
Defending her title, Serena Williams will open the proceedings on the daunting Centre Court. Having met the Queen on Thursday, Serena would be hoping that meeting Royalty would prove to be lucky for her. She would be meeting Dominka Cibulkova of Slovakia in her third round encounter. The demure five-foot-three-inch Cibulkova has an uphill task in front of her as she takes on the in-form Serena. Serena has been invincible in her opening two rounds and on paper it seems as if this round too would be a breeze for Serena.
Next on Centre court would be the fiery Spanish Rafael Nadal. After coming out unscathed after a five set match against Dutch Robin Hasse, Nadal will look to wrap-up his third round match and conserve some energy for the later rounds. Nadal will face-off against Philipp Petzschner of Germany. What is ironic is that both Petzchner and Nadal have had a similar last year. Petzchner too was out of the circuit during most of year due to a wrist injury. But that may be the only similarity that they have, Nadal supersedes the German by miles in the game. Learning from his past mistakes, Nadal would be looking to brush past the German with his new tactics in three sets.
The abovementioned matches may have caught the eyes of the tennis pundits, but the whole British nation would be anxiously awaiting the final match on Centre court. British hopeful Andy Murray will be taking on the challenger from France Gilles Simon. There have been many Frenchmen in this year’s Wimbledon, with many causing problems for the seeds. Will Simon be the thorn in Murray’s side, and will he dash the hopes of the British audiences? Murray has been excellent on grass during this tournament. He has breezed past his first two rounds without dropping a set. This is impressive, considering all the top three seeds have been through gruelling five setters. No British man has won Wimbledon since 1936 and Murray would be looking to change that. Murray and Simon have met four times before, with Simon winning their first encounter on clay and then losing the next three, that too in three straight sets. Simon had been plagued with a knee ligament injury since 2009, and his return has not been very successful. He has played four tournaments since then, only losing in the first round. Murray will be looking to take full advantage of the fact that Simon has not played much tennis since his return from injury. He will be looking to assert himself from the outset of the match and emboss his supremacy on the Frenchman.
Court One action will kick off with French Open finalist Robin Soderling taking on Brazilian Thomaz Belluci. Soderling has had a good outing on grass so far with few obstacles in his way. He will be looking to oust Belluci in the same manner as he did to Marcel Granollers in the second round. Former champion Maria Sharapova will be up next, looking to maintain her ongoing momentum. She will be meeting Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic. Maria was a runner up in the grass court championship in Birmingham this year and would be looking to crush her opponent to make a place for herself in the fourth round.
After the exit of John Isner, American Sam Querry would be looking to make a name for himself as he meets the unpredictable Xavier Malisse. Malisse can cause problems for any top seeds on a good day, but his erratic performance has caused him to slip in the rankings.
Court Two will feature third seed Caroline Wozniacki trying to make a name for her in the women’s circuit. She is looking for her maiden Wimbledon title and on her journey, she will meet Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia. She would want to brush aside the Russian in a quick manner to make a place for her in the round of sixteen.
Day six seems to be action packed with many stars coming out to play. This day will determine who will proceed to week two.
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