Wimbledon R3 previews and predictions: Del Potro vs. Pouille, Bautista Agut vs. Tomic

One day after upsetting Stan Wawrinka, Juan Martin Del Potro will be back in action at the All-England Club to face Lucas Pouille. Saturday’s third-round schedule also features Roberto Bautista Agut and Bernard Tomic.

(32) Lucas Pouille vs. (PR) Juan Martin Del Potro

Del Potro’s comeback reached new heights at Wimbledon on Friday, when he upset world No. 5 Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3. It was the oft-injured Argentine’s best win since beating then-world No. 1 Rafael Nadal at the 2013 Shanghai Masters. The result did not come completely out of nowhere, and not just because Wawrinka has been in mediocre form. Although Del Potro dropped his opening Queen’s Club match to John Isner, he preceded that by beating Grigor Dimitrov, John Millman, and Gilles Simon en route to the Stuttgart semifinals. Prior to ousting Wawrinka, the 27-year-old took care of Stephane Robert 6-1, 7-5, 6-0 on Tuesday.

Up next for Del Potro on Saturday is a first-ever meeting with Pouille, who is through to the last 32 following mostly routine defeats of Marius Copil and Donald Young. The 22-year-old Frenchman is in the midst of a breakout season on tour that has him up to 30th in the rankings. Pouille’s 2016 campaign includes a fourth-round showing in Miami, a runner-up finish in Bucharest, and a semifinal performance in Rome as a lucky loser. But he lost his opening grass-court matches in both Stuttgart and Halle. This is a massive opportunity for Del Potro, and based on how he handled the situation of closing out Wawrinka, he should be able to take advantage of what is now an extremely favorable draw.

Pick: Del Potro in 4

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(14) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (19) Bernard Tomic

Bautista Agut and Tomic will also be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Saturday. Although Bautista Agut was one of the hottest players on tour at the beginning of the season, he cooled off in a big way on clay and got blown out by Milos Raonic in the Queen’s Club quarterfinals. On the bright side, the world No. 15 has reached the fourth round of four consecutive slams dating back to Wimbledon last summer and he is one win away from extending the streak to five. Bautista Agut opened with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 rout of Jordan Thompson before getting a walkover from Mikhail Kukushkin.

Tomic is just about the opposite of Bautista Agut in terms of both temperament and results. While the Spaniard is a model of consistency who rarely does better or worse than expected, Tomic can fluctuate wildly between being scorching hot or ice cold on any given day. One of his best results came at the All-England Club in 2011, when he went on a quarterfinal run as a qualifier. The 19th-ranked Australian is now 12-6 lifetime in the Wimbledon main draw and back in the third round thanks to victories this week over Fernando Verdasco (in five sets) and Radu Albot. Whereas Tomic is often criticized for his effort level, or lack thereof, few players on tour visibly crave success more than Bautista Agut. That could be the difference in match that Tomic probably should win but will likely find a way to lose.

Pick: Bautista Agut in 5

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