Roger Federer will continue his Wimbledon campaign on Thursday against tough grass-court opponent Sam Querrey. Roberto Bautista Agut and Benoit Paire are also in action.
Sam Querrey vs. (2) Roger Federer
Federer and Querrey will be squaring off for the third time in their careers and for the first time in more than seven years when they clash in round two of Wimbledon on Thursday. Both of their previous encounters have gone the way of Federer,who cruised 6-4, 6-3 at the 2007 Miami Masters and 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 one season later at Roland Garros. The world No. 2 is still going strong at 33 years old and improved his 2015 record to 35-6 by disposing of Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday.
Querrey made similarly lightning-quick work (one hour and 19 minutes compared to just one hour and seven minutes for Federer) of his first-round opponent, as he blitzed Igor Sijsling 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. The world No. 36 has always been a tough out at the All-England Club and he cemented his status as a dangerous grass-court performer with a runner-up finish last week in Nottingham. Querrey averaged 10 aces per set against Sijsling, so he has every reason to make this competitive as long as he serves well. Still, Federer is fine form at the moment and should score another straight-set win over the American.
Pick: Federer in 3 losing 11-14 games
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Benoit Paire vs. (20) Roberto Bautista Agut
This is nowhere close to reaching Tomas Berdych vs. Kevin Anderson levels, but Bautista Agut has positively owned pair heading into their second-round showdown at Wimbledon. Since dropping the first-ever set they contested against each other in the 2013 Chennai semifinals, Bautista Agut has since won 10 in a row at Paire’s expense. The Spaniard leads the overall head-to-head series 4-0 after getting the job done on three occasions last year–in Auckland, at the Australian Open, and at the French Open.
Paire is a decent 5-4 lifetime in the Wimbledon main draw, but grass does not really suit his game as a result of his elongated, loopy forehand. The 68th-ranked Frenchman played a pair of 250 events on the slick stuff after Roland Garros and lost his opener at both. Nonetheless, Paire got back in gear to trounce an out-of-sorts Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday. Bautista Agut pummeled Ruben Bemelmans 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(6) in his opener at the All-England Club. Like Paire, the world No. 20 went 0-2 on grass in between the two most recent majors. Despite showcasing lackluster form of late, Bautista Agut has to be supremely confident based on his past domination of Paire.
Pick: Bautista Agut in 3
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Reblogged this on Tennis Abides.
This is insane. Hope it’s not moderated.
https://twitter.com/SI_Tennis/status/616626573484101632
The pros make it look so easy
I could yet become a fedfan…
😉
I am a fan of how he plays tennis. And almost 34?
Amaaaaazing.
(Still hopes he loses though.)
Even nadline can’t hold a candle to his smugness.
34 is young. Haas is 37.
ditto:
playing: phenomenadal
attitude: apparently phenomenadal, scratch surface: not so smugch
And how has that turned out for Haas.
Proved my point.
just goes to show, as amy, has said that HE is the logos….
yet …
thus amy speaks of the annointed one
the deliverer of the Jewish nation as prophesied in the Old Testament
we now have the minority in those who did not recognise him as the mashiah (and hence became an easy minority to scapegoat for the rest of time, sometimes called rastafarians, sorry, I mean rafans)…
and those who did recognise him as the mashiah (and went on to proselytize to everyone ever since, usually called fedfans, sports journalists, commentators and those who lined their pockets called tournament organizers, media moguls)
were he here among us these days surely he would roleth his eyes
wait, he is here among us, and does not roleth his eyes, what is happening here?
ha ha chloro…not sure if this isn’t blasphemy!
amy, I am not writing about the anointed one of twenty centuries ago, as you know, just about the one of twelve years ago, and about this new anointed one it is _certainly blasphemy, or else I missed my mark entirely 🙂
Rafa will be waiting in the wings now. I hope he’ got ‘colm’.
therein, nadline, lies the _entire_ question of the last _22_ months…
Tiggy says:
Rafael Nadal [10] vs. Dustin Brown
The 102nd-ranked Brown, aka Dreddy Tennis, is one of the very few players who owns a winning record against Nadal. Granted, they’ve played just once, on grass last year in Halle, a few days after Nadal had won his ninth French Open, but Brown ran away with that match in straight sets. Can he do something like that again on the grass inside Centre Court, over three of five sets? Brown is a showman who loves the limelight; if nothing else, he makes you realize just how good Gael Monfils is as a player. As for Rafa, he was OK but not great in his first-round win over Thomaz Bellucci; his forehand still went wonky, and his elbow grew a little heavy at times when he had the lead. But even that should be enough to earn him a win here. Winner: Nadal
Preach it Tiggy. I feel the same way.
not a little pressure on Brown today
Rafa anxious these days but if not too much so today today… no contest
unlike some tennis journos Tiggy has a brain and really writes well.
one of my 3 fave tennis journos along with juan jose vallejo and brian phillips
not familliar with phillips.
writes for grantland on various sports but his tennis pieces on rafa are incredible….really perceptive as well as hilarious..check out ‘metal gods on fire’ which is his piece on rafole at RG 2013……
I agree about Tiggy. Don’t know the other two.
jj vallejo was one of the founders of the changeover but now writes for rolling stone. but i find his rolling stone pieces very disappointing as they are so staid and don’t show his wit and insight….has a great twitter feed…..
used to do great audio pieces with brodie of mind the racket….
The forehand, as pointed out by Tiggy, was wonky! Undoubtedly. I hope he improves it controls the nerves well enough to win.
so nervous about that forehand…..really hope it recovers from its funk today….
I agree. Wonky. Nice term for the forehand just not being consistent in that first match. Rafa really needs his forehand to be firing on all cylinders. That’s the money shot.
The biggest challenge will be nerves. I don’t think playing on center court will get to Brown. He’s got nothing to lose. No pressure for him. He will go out there to try and get the upset.
The Fog lost to Pospisil.
I feel more nervous than Rafa, I’m sure.
The match started less than 5 minutes ago and the commies are already complaining that Rafa took too long during the change-over. That Rafa is trying to ‘disrupt’ the pace. eeeshh people…give it a rest.
espn is better as JMac’s got our guy’s back.
I am watching ESPN 🙂
who is doing commentary then.
must be p-mac.
Brad G and Mike something (?). Don’t recognize the voice.
JMac is on the BBC as well!
JMac likes Rafa. I can handle listening to him.
This guy Brown looks like he’s come out ready to rumble.
Rafa held his serve!
Come on Rafa!
GREat game rafa!!!!
WOW! Rafa’s ROS is on! The ESPN commentators say he’s come out with a game plan. Some great play to get the early break!
You show him, Rafa!
Now hold your serve!
wow break rafa
scoreboard watching
PMac is the problem because he’s an obsessed Fed fan. JMac clearly loves Rafa. If it was PMac, then I would have to mute the sound.
So is JMac commentating on both ESPN and the BBC?
oh shit….stay colm rafa…
3-3 and I’m already annoyed by DB.
rafa missed an easy forehand to go 30-40 on brown’s service game before last and have break point…since then it’s all gone downhill……
Oh no. Rafa gives up the break. Brown will take full advantage. He’s come out to play today.
Why does this always happen to Rafa?
Now watching..how did rafa lose serve?
Brown was jumping all over him and Rafa just didn’t play well enough. The guy has come out guns blazing as I thought.
Once he got the break back, he’s held serve easily. Huge mistake for Rafa to lose his serve after getting the early break.
Now Rafa is trying to hold to send it to a tb.
Brown is playing out of his skin.