(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 |
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
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