Wimbledon – The Men’s singles quarterfinals overview
by Stephen Lars on Jun.28, 2011, under Sports News, Tennis
It’s all back to dressing in white for the Championships at Wimbledon. The four highest seeds are still alive and all the ingredients for a thrilling quarterfinals are set. Rafa Nadal is here, Roger Federer is here, Novak Djokovic is here. Even Andy Murray is here. Mardy Fish has worked his way into the quarterfinals too. This is what happened in the fourth round of Wimbledon, in a nuthshell.
Let’s take a look at our actors. Here are the healines. Mardy Fish, beat 2010 runner-up Tomas Berdych 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4. Novak Djokovic, who could replace Spaniard Rafael Nadal as the top-ranked man in the world by reaching the final, beat Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Roger Federer, the most dominant player in this surface, dropped his first set of the tournament before coming back to down Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 and reach his 29th successive Grand Slam quarterfinal. Not bad for the Federer Express. Particularly considering that he is in such a need of getting his spirits back up after losing the French Open title to Nadal just a month ago. Federer will next face No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who beat No. 7 David Ferrer 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (1).
Murray, who faced the added pressure of playing in front of royal newlyweds Prince William and the former Kate Middleton, moved into the quarterfinals by beating Richard Gasquet of France 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-2 Monday. Murray’s next opponent is unseeded Feliciano Lopez, who came from two sets down and saved two match points in the third set tiebreaker to overcome Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot 3-6, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 7-5, 7-5. Lopez served 28 aces.
The 29-year-old Mardy Fish reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time by beating 2010 runner-up Tomas Berdych from the Czech Republic by 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4Thomas Berdych. This has been quite an achievement for Mardy Fish. Truth is, Fish has never been to the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. He was a quarterfinalist at the 2007 Australian Open and 2008 U.S. Open.
Top-seeded defending champion, PGA tour top-ranked player and winner of this year’s French Open, one talented Rafael Nadal, overcame a foot injury and outlasted Argentinean Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in a Centre Court. Truth is that del Potro has had some issues during his comeback from injury. The former US Open Champion was ousted by Roger Federer in the French Open, and now he was outplayed by Nadal on the round of 16 of the Championships at Wimbledon. Nadal suffered an injury during the match and had to seek physical attention. It is still uncertain if he is going to be completely healthy when he faces Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals.
As of press time, Rafa Nadal is a -650 moneyline favorite against Mardy Fish, who’s +450 comeback line makes him quite a worthy underdog. Andy Murray is a very big favorite, -950 against Feliciano Lopez, the least favorite in the whole group to make it into the semifinals. The Federer Express is -490 against Jo Wilfred Tsonga, while Novak Djokovic is -750 on the Moneyline against Bernard Tomic, who could payback +525 for every hundred you put on him.


