Wimbledon 2009: Daily preview (Day 6) Men’s

Andy Murray's gathered massive momentum as he cruised into the last 16 by crushing Serbia's Viktor Troicki 6-2 6-3 6-4 in 96 minutes. Troicki, who had suffered two embarrassing defeats previously at the hands of Murray, made his Centre Court debut clearly with the intention of blasting the Scot off the court where he has so far been so comfortable.


The number six seed Andy Roddick securing his place in Monday’s last 16 with a 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-3 win over the Austrian Jurgen Melzer. Eight times before today they have met, and eight times the American has triumphed. American is second only to Federer with the most grasscourt wins among current players.


Hewitt, the world No. 56, is a former Wimbledon and US Open Champion who came into this match with a career Grand Slam record of 122-40. Petzschner, the world No.55, has won just the single title and before this match his Grand Slam record was 5-4, and that was all the difference. Only one place in the world rankings separates Lleyton Hewitt and Philipp Petzschner, and little separated the players for much of their third round match, which Hewitt won 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.


Juan Carlos Ferrero, the former world number one, came through an extraordinary match to beat the number 10 seed Fernando Gonzalez on No.1 Court. Ferrero, playing as a wild card because his ranking was not high enough to justify automatic entry into the draw, emerged victorious from a see-saw encounter 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. It was a bolt from the blue, and Ferrero greeted it with a Nadal-like cry of: “Vamos!”


Simon beat Hanescu 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 27 minutes to reach the fourth round for the first time. The French challenge in the men’s singles now rests exclusively with 24-year-old Gilles Simon who is their lone survivor after his straight sets win over Victor Hanescu of Romania.


Czech Tomas Berdych finally broke his hoodoo against Nikolay Davydenko, taking just 107 minutes to crush the Russian No.12 seed for the first time in nine meetings. Berdych, the 20th seed, looked impressive from the outset and secured 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Berdych added: “I can’t wait till next week. This was by my best match and performance this year. I played very well and believe I’m getting better and better with each match.”


Stanislas Wawrinka played low-risk tennis and outlasted Jesse Levine 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 to move into the fourth round. Wawrinka played the ball at a comfortable height onto the American’s forehand and then watched as it was fired back past him. Levine can take heart from his five-match winning run and then here in the main draw.

Wimbledon 2009: Daily preview (Day 4) Men’s

Andy Murray accelerated into the third round with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 win over talented Latvian Ernests Gulbis in 88 minutes, with plenty of indicators that he could rev up British hopes right until Wimbledon's main contenders reach the end of the road a week on Sunday.


There was one brief glimmer of hope for 20-year-old Gulbis, right at the start when Murray somehow contrived to let slip his only two break points of the entire match. Murray, 22, was having a fine time of it, clearly able to read much of Gulbis’s play and out-thinking him. Gulbis seemed thoroughly thrown off balance.

Lleyton Hewitt, moving and roaring as if the last seven years had never happened, scored perhaps his finest win at The Championships since becoming the champion in 2002 as he crushed Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3 7-5 7-5 in two hours 32 minutes .


The 20-year-old Del Potro, seeded fifth which meant he was theoretically lined up for a semi-final spot following Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal, never looked like subduing the Australian attack dog - the only male representative from his country at a tournament once dominated by great players from Down Under.

Andy Roddick has stated his intent at The Championships with a 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over Igor Kunitsyn to reach the third round.Sure enough, Roddick seemed to be his usual powerful self. The serve was working well as he thumped down 18 aces and 39 unreturnable serves and kept his serving statistics at a healthy 71% accuracy. Kunitsyn was trying his best to compete. He, too, has a vicious serve on him and, for the first few games, was keeping pace on the thunderbolt tally with his opponent.


After the match, Roddick was not concerned about being broken in the third set. "A win is a win. The set I got broken, I had numerous break chances and [he] got the one that [he] had.
Tenth seed Gonzalez has never got beyond the quarter-finals and has struggled on grass throughout his career. He started slowly against Mayer but came back from a set down to beat the Argentine in a match of few service breaks.


Gonzalez was never at his best but took his chances on the important points, winning three out of four break points to claim a solitary break in each set. He eventually triumphed 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, taking the match with a backhand volley.

American qualifier Jesse Levine awaits in the third round. Levine has enjoyed a fine Wimbledon, knocking out Marat Safin in the first round, and he beat Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 6-1, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 to further enhance his reputation.

Radek Stepanek is no stranger to long matches at Wimbledon and he featured in his sixth five-set match in the space of three years at the All England Club. The No.23 seed came through 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 against Potito Starace.

Juan Carlos Ferrero had a similar afternoon to Gonzalez. He, too, was beaten in the first set, by Fabrice Santoro in a tiebreak. But the 2003 French Open winner’s experience made the difference in the end and he won 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

There were no such worries for seeds Nikolay Davydenko, Victor Hanescu, Stanislas Wawrinka, David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych who all steamrolled their opponents in straight sets on a day of few upsets.

French Open: Day 13 Update

Surprising Swede Robin Soderling holds off Fernando Gonzalez to reach French Open finals, in a five-set thriller. The 12th seed looked favourite to win at 4-1 up in the final set, but Soderling regained his composure to reel off five games in a row. The Swede, seeded 23, began well and comfortably took the first two sets, but the Chilean edged a thrilling third and battled back to steal the fourth.
"It's unbelievable," said Soderling. "I played well in the first two sets. Then he started to play incredibly well.

"I was down a break in the final set but I said to myself that I have nothing to lose. I started to return great and everything changed.

"I still have far to go with the most difficult match, maybe against Federer, to come on Sunday."

Gonzalez, in only his second Grand Slam semi-final, seemed to lose his cool in the fifth game with an increasing number of errors, but he hung in there with the second set progressing with serve.

I never felt comfortable," said Gonzalez. "I couldn't hit clearly and it was tough.

"I served at 4-3 in the final set and I knew I had the match in my hands. I wanted to win it on my first serves, not second, but he made some great returns.

"If he keeps serving at over 200kph and finding the lines, it'll be tough for whoever he faces in the final."