Wimbledon Day 3 - Predictions

Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Victoria Azarenka, and Maria Sharapova highlight Day 3 Wimbledon action. All of them have potentially tricky opponents in Sergiy Stakhovksy, Yen-Hsun Lu, Flavia Pennetta, and Michelle Larcher de Brito respectively. Nadal killer Steve Darcis also looks to bring up some more Wimbledon magic against Lukasz Kubot. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga looks to continue his love of Wimbledon against hard-hitting dangerous Ernest Gulbis. However, in my opinion, the men's matches will be overshadowed by the women's matchups, which happen to be very interesting today. Former champ Petra Kvitova is in action against the mercurial Yaroslava Shvedova. Petra Cetkovska looks to continue to on the comeback trail against Caroline Wozniacki, as does Andrea Petkovic against Sloane Stephens.

(6)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA vs Ernest Gulbis LAT

Ernest Gulbis

Last year, Gulbis (pictured on right) upset Tomas Berdych, a former Wimbledon finalist, in straight sets in the first round, but lost to qualifier Jerzy Janowicz (who was then not in the top 100). Obviously, Gulbis has the ability to defeat any player on any given day, and lose to any player at any time. However, this year, after a disappointing start to the year, Gulbis has developed some consistency and has plenty of solid wins and almost-wins. He took the title in Delray Beach and pushed Rafael Nadal to three sets at Indian Wells, losing 6-4, 4-6, 5-7. However, his opponent is no slouch either, and has certainly more experienced than the young Latvian. Tsonga has been in a Grand Slam final before, and several semifinals including at Wimbledon the last two years. I think Gulbis' lack of consistency and Tsonga's net-rushing tactis and experience well be too much. But don't count Gulbis' flat, hard groundstrokes out of this contest.

Prediction: Tsonga in 4 tight sets (probably several tiebreaks)

(17)Sloane Stephens USA vs Andrea Petkovic GER

Sloane Stephens

This matchup, in my opinion, has a chance of being an extremely good match. Petkovic is a former top 10 player and is looking to complete her Grand Slam quarterfinal collection here at Wimbledon. Unfortunately after a breakthrough 2011, she suffered multiple injuries that saw Petkovic be on the verge of falling out of the top 200. Now she is back on in the top 100 and on the rise. Stephens is also on the rise as an up-and-comer. She reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at this year's Australian Open, famously beating Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. She fell in hard times after that run, but seems to have found her form again reaching the fourth round of the French Open (losing to Maria Sharapova). In a match of solid groundies, who can be more consistent and dictate the points? That's what the winner of this match must do. 

Prediction: Stephens in 3 sets (it would be really nice to see Petkovic win though...and she could!)

Elsewhere on the grounds...
Flavia Pennetta ITA vs (2)Victoria Azarenka BLR: Azarenka in 2 sets (1 easy, 1 tough)
Sergiy Stakhovsky UKR vs (3)Roger Federer SUI: Federer in 3 sets

Fernando Verdasco ESP vs (31)Julien Benneteau FRA: Benneteau in 5 sets
Yen-Hsun Lu TPE vs (2)Andy Murray GBR: Murray in 3 sets
(8)Petra Kvitova CZE vs Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ: Kvitova in 3 sets (two very streaky players...)
Dustin Brown GER vs Lleyton Hewitt AUS: Hewitt in 3 sets
Petra Cetkovska CZE vs (9)Caroline Wozniacki DEN: Wozniacki in 2 tight sets
Michelle Larcher de Brito POR vs (3)Maria Sharapova RUS: Sharapova in 2 screaming sets
Kenny de Schepper FRA vs (10)Marin Cilic CRO: Cilic in 3 sets
(18)John Isner USA vs Adrian Mannarino FRA: Isner in 3 sets
(15)Nicolas Almagro ESP vs Guillaume Rufin FRA: Almagro in 4 sets
(15)Marion Bartoli FRA vs Christina McHale USA: Bartoli in 3 fist-pumping sets
Radek Stepanek CZE vs (24)Jerzy Janowicz POL: Janowicz in 5 sets
Eugenie Bouchard CAN vs (12)Ana Ivanovic SRB: Ivanovic in 2 sets (1 easy, 1 tight)
(32)Tommy Robredo ESP vs Nicolas Mahut FRA: Mahut in 4 tight sets
(29)Alize Cornet FRA vs Su-Wei Hsieh TPE: Hsieh in 2 tricky sets
Vasek Pospisil CAN vs (20)Mikhail Youzhny RUS: Youzhny in 4 sets
(22)Juan Monaco ARG vs Rajeev Ram USA: Monaco in 4 sets
Camila Giorgi ITA vs (22)Sorana Cirstea ROU: Cirstea in 3 big hitting sets
Viktor Troicki SRB vs Audrey Kuznetsov RUS: Troicki in 4 sets
(19)Carla Suarez Navarro ESP vs Mirjana Lucic-Baroni CRO: Suarez Navarro in 3 sets
Stephanie Robert FRA vs (25)Benoit Paire FRA: Paire in 3 tight sets
Garbine Muguruza ESP vs (25)Ekaterina Makarova RUS: Makarova in 3 tight sets
Lesia Tsurenko UKR vs Eva Birnerova CZE: Tsurenko in 2 tough sets
Jurgen Melzer AUT vs Julian Reister FRA: Melzer in 3 tricky sets
Monica Puig PUR vs Silvia Soler-Espinosa ESP: Puig in 3 sets
Lucie Safarova CZE vs Karin Knapp ITA: Safarova in 2 sets (1 easy, 1 tough)
Steve Darcis BEL vs Lukasz Kubot POL: Darcis in 4 sets
(16)Jelena Jankovic SRB vs Vesna Dolonc SRB: Jankovic in 2 tough sets
Bojana Jovanovski SRB vs (20)Kirsten Flipkens BEL: Flipkens in 3 tight sets