Wimbledon Day 7.... or 8?

First topic message reminder :

Here we are, the most magical time of the tennis calendar.  The second week of Wimbledon is where legends are made.  16 will start the week.  Only 1 will be victorious.

Centre Court 1.00pm

LADIES' SINGLES - FOURTH ROUND Serena Williams (USA) [1] v Sabine Lisicki (GER) [23]  GENTLEMEN'S SINGLES - FOURTH ROUND Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) [20] v Andy Murray (GBR) [2]  GENTLEMEN'S SINGLES - FOURTH ROUND Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] v Tommy Haas (GER) [13]

No.1 Court 1.00pm

LADIES' SINGLES - FOURTH ROUND Laura Robson (GBR) v Kaia Kanepi (EST)  GENTLEMEN'S SINGLES - FOURTH ROUND Andreas Seppi (ITA) [23] v Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) [8]  GENTLEMEN'S SINGLES - FOURTH ROUND Bernard Tomic (AUS) v Tomas Berdych (CZE) [7]

 Source: http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/schedule/index.html

First up on Centre Court is the irrepressible, unstoppable Serena Williams against the grass court specialist Sabine Lisicki in what will most likely be the American's toughest test on the way to her very likely 6th Wimbledon singles title.  The German is not to be underestimated as she possesses the weapons to make life more than uncomfortable for Williams, especially her first serve which regularly tops 115mph.  Also on Lisicki's side is her Wimbledon record against the year's French Open champions: in 2009 she defeated Kuznetsova, in 2011 she defeated Li Na and in 2012 she beat Sharapova.  Will it be fourth win in a row against a reigning French Open champion?  With the form Williams is in, I doubt it.  Prediction: Williams in straight sets.

Next onto Centre is home hero Andrew Murray against Mikhail Youzhny.  Murray has a 2-0 record against the Colonel but the last of those meetings was a few years ago so not much can be read into the head-to-head.  Whilst Youzhny is in superb form on the grass, having only lost to Federer on the cow food in for what seems like every previous tournament, the 2nd seed will be the heavy favourite to progress and on his current form and and with his grass court pedigree, who would disagree?  Prediction: Murray in straight sets, perhaps 4.

The final match of the day on Centre Court is the veteran Tommy Haas (ATP Comeback Player of the Year 2004 AND 2012) against a certain world number 1 Novak Djokovic.  Haas has had previous success against Djokovic at Wimbledon and also won their most recent meeting but Djokovic these days at majors compared to Masters is a different beast altogether.  After throwing in a sublime performance against Jeremy Chardy and making the Frenchman look completely weaponless, this will be a different test for Djokovic and Haas must not be underestimated but at 35 years old, could he go to 5 sets against The Ironman of tennis?  Prediction: Djokovic in 4 sets.

Starting off proceedings on Court 1 we have "Princess" Laura Robson against Kaia Kanepi who already has one British scalp to her name so far in this tournament.  Kanepi's on the comeback trail after injury and is no doubt a top 20 player (where she was ranked before injury) but if Robson can bring her first serve along and does not crack under the pressure, I can see her winning and taking her place in her maiden major quarter-final.  Prediction: Robson in 3 sets.

8th seed Juan Martin del Potro never really had much success on grass until last summer's Olympics where he was oh-so-close to a gold medal match.  However, the big man managed to shrug off the disappointment of losing out to Federer deep into a 3rd set to out-gun Djokovic in straight sets and claim bronze.  He threw in a below-par performance at Queen's but has looked in good shape this tournament and has not dropped a set heading into the 4th round.  Up against del Potro is Italian Andreas Seppi, a man more suited to the clay courts of Western Europe rather than the grass of England.  Seppi has done incredibly well to reach this round, especially after defeating Kei Nishikori in 5 sets, but he does not have anything to trouble del Potro who is looking more comfortable on grass with every match he plays.  Prediction: del Potro in 3 sets.

The last match of the day is possibly the most eagerly anticipated match in the men's 4th round.  Australian playboy Bernard Tomic has reached the quarter finals here before but after a couple of years of average results and off-court drama, perhaps he is turning a corner in his career.  However, he's up against Tomas Berdych who has made a potentially dangerous first 3 rounds look fairly easy except a below-par serving performance against Kevin Anderson.  Tomic was highly impressive against perennial disappointment Richard Gasquet but faces a much tougher challenge against the big serving, big hitting Czech.  This is possibly a bridge too far for the Aussie but I think he will give all he has on the court.  Prediction: Berdych in at least 4, possibly 5 sets.

Got to get your first serve in girl... Take a bit of pace off it, but make sure it goes in...

Is Ferrer in the process of seizing a decisive advantage in his match consolidating the 1st break of serve in the match at the beginning of the third set after recovering the 2nd set tie-breaker from being a mini-break down?

Pressure does funny things to players. Especially those who have never been in such positions in the latter stage of a Slam.

Hate it when Wimbledon changes channel, means i have to get up and find the remote

lydian wrote:Also watching the Lisicki-Williams match...boy Sabine can serve and hit big...multiple serves at 122mph already...and 2nd serves >100mph, bigger than Murray. Impressive stuff.

Mrs B and I were remarking last Monday has much smaller Andy's 2nd serve was than the girls who'd been on before. Very odd.

Edit: Seen the picture of Sabine on Wimbledon. She has the kind of look my Mum might have told me to keep clear of..........

SERENA BROKEN
Surely not another shock on the cards - Lisicki has broken Serena as the red-hot fave double faults. 4-2 to the German in the fourth...

I have the BBC live feed and I have these brilliant commentators. Not sure what match they are watching.

Lisicki is playing well...5-2 now.

What a forehand return!!!!!!

glorious return by Robson to save Set point at the tiebreak

I can hear the sounds of pin drop. Twitchy bum time on the board

Lisicki takes the first set 6-2!!

Serena's game has gone to pieces....Lisicki takes the set at two.

shivfan wrote:Serena's game has gone to pieces....Lisicki takes the set at two.

Wow. Just wow.

But now the hard part....................

Ahh dammit!!

Kanepi exposed Laura's stodgy lateral movement there.

Very good match though, Laura is well in this match if she can keep her head up.

Lisicki is very inconsistent, but a bit of a nightmare opponent on the rare occasions when she's getting her huge serves and shots in with any regularity.

Echoing BB - she also looks like trouble.

Needs to get back some rhythm on serve

Nice ace...

Laura 5-4 up on serve and 5-2 up in the TB.

She needs to dig down and find some of the fight she did in the last round.

Finally...Serena gets a break of her own.

bogbrush wrote: Seen the picture of Sabine on Wimbledon. She has the kind of look my Mum might have told me to keep clear of..........

And yet you would very much like to get to know better!

She definitely has a certain quality.

Quite enjoying this match, very engaging!

I'm really looking forward to Radwanska vs Pironkova soon, my two favourite players. Kubot and Mannarino enter a 5th set, Kubot playing much more aggressively and rushing the net frequently, but leaking errors too - could go either way.

 JJ's managed to do something I thought now impossible; actually get Melzer motivated

JJ will still win, but if he brings these histrionics to CC - he'll be doing Lendl's job for him  

I'm all for them, to a degree and it's the passion I most like about the Top 2 - but this is ridiculous

Good serve some good ground strokes, but not certain about his movement when playing the best

HM Murdoch wrote:

bogbrush wrote: Seen the picture of Sabine on Wimbledon. She has the kind of look my Mum might have told me to keep clear of..........

And yet you would very much like to get to know better!

She definitely has a certain quality.

Oh, very much.

One not to bring home to meet Mum (I'd have hoped).

Serena takes the second set at one...it's now one-set-all!

Melzer comes from a break down to take the 4th set 6-4 vs JJ.

On Court 12, it's two sets all as Melzer comes back from a break down to break the JJ serve twice in four games

Pumping up Melzer, might not have been the wisest decision

Anyway a 5th set and here's hoping for a 64-62 one

banbrotam wrote:On Court 12, it's two sets all as Melzer comes back from a break down to break the JJ serve twice in four games

Pumping up Melzer, might not have been the wisest decision

Anyway a 5th set and here's hoping for a 64-62 one

That little confidence?

Come on JJ!

Robson looks like she may be going out here...

bogbrush wrote:

banbrotam wrote:On Court 12, it's two sets all as Melzer comes back from a break down to break the JJ serve twice in four games

Pumping up Melzer, might not have been the wisest decision

Anyway a 5th set and here's hoping for a 64-62 one

That little confidence?

Given Andy's normal difficult route to a Slam win only even if all his next opponents default, his average career 2nd week opponents would still be deemed more difficult than average  

Looks like the end for Robson. Seems to have the game, now needs to work on the mental side as her serve does tend to fall apart under pressure - that's not just based on this tournament but has been an issue for her all year.

Serena goes 3-0 up in the final set....

Been a good tournament for Robbo. Maclaghan will help her iron out the inconsistencies in her game. Her serving far more improved. Needs to work on the ball toss!!

They'll never learn about reading ahead in draws, will they?

Well played Kanepi, good tournament for Robson. Would've learnt a lot, and experienced the underdog/favourite tags and how to deal with those pressures

legendkillarV2 wrote:Been a good tournament for Robbo. Maclaghan will help her iron out the inconsistencies in her game. Her serving far more improved. Needs to work on the ball toss!!

Agreed - its surprising someone can get to the top level with a flaw in such a basic area.

I liken it to Steven Finn in cricket. For those that don't follow cricket, there is an England bowler who quite regularly runs into the stumps whilst bowling.

Seemed like Robson fell under the pressure - which is understandable for such a young player. She had her chances in the first set, but didn't take them. She did herself a good service at this tournament, but time to move on now. Kanepi played very well it had to be said, and took full advantage of her greater experience.

Still you Laura.

Unlucky Laura. Loads of promise for the future.

On the front foot she's marvellous off both wings and that bomb of a serve has already improved and will improve more.

Needs to become a bit better off both wings on the back foot, playing higher percentage shots. And of course the lateral movement, which again has already improved and will get better.

All the things she needs to improve can be improved, it's not like she lacks a forehand or something.

Well with pwincess Laura out of the way hopefully the press can get stuffed now.

Sorry, I'm a bit grumpy as I had to go out during the 2nd set and it started raining when I was out even though it's been nice all day.

Melzer!!

Not sure who I want to win out of serena and Lisicki.

I love Williams character and she's a great player, but I like Lisicki's game too. Plus, I have a bit of a crush on Lisicki.

Crush wins, come on Lisicki!!!  

Well played Robson, she can be very proud of the way she has performed in this tournament and no doubt she will come back stronger next year. 

Come on Murray now!!!

JJ through!!!

The Special Juan wrote:Sorry, I'm a bit grumpy as I had to go out during the 2nd set and it started raining when I was out even though it's been nice all day.

Tune in to Tsvetty-Aggy and cheer yourself up, sir. 3-0 up with a double break already, the former is playing brilliantly.

I need to stop fangirling over this match, sorry guys. Er, so...is Murray on soon?

both JJ and Kubot through to the QF. Impressive. must be a lot of Poles dancing around London

Lisicki is playing some ridiculous tennis right now

Serena nearly fell over  

Cracking shot by Lisicki

Wow, brilliant from Lisicki.

She moves great, has power off both wings, serves great.... Looks great

Great all round game. Can she serve it out?

Silver wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:Sorry, I'm a bit grumpy as I had to go out during the 2nd set and it started raining when I was out even though it's been nice all day.

Tune in to Tsvetty-Aggy and cheer yourself up, sir. 3-0 up with a double break already, the former is playing brilliantly.

I need to stop fangirling over this match, sorry guys. Er, so...is Murray on soon?

It's on, thanks for letting me know. The most unorthodox ladies match in a while certainly.

Sabiiiiiiiiiine!