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Wimbledon 2017 Day 2 – Three to See

Jake Davies
Tennis

 

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By Jake Davies

  • Novak Djokovic [2] vs Martin Klizan
  • Agnieszka Radwanska [9] vs Jelena Jankovic
  • Roger Federer [3] vs Alexandr Dolgopolov
WIMBLEDON,UK – The second day of action at SW19 sees Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer play their respective first round as they make up two of our three-to-see match-ups.

 

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Novak Djokovic [2] vs Martin Klizan H2H: Djokovic leads 3-0

The World No.4 and three-time Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic faces a challenging start to his 2017 Wimbledon as he has been drawn against one of the most tricky of unseeded players in Martin Klizan. The Slovakian won his biggest title in Rotterdam of last year, then won Hamburg, but hasn’t really been able to back those results up in a disappointing 2017 season, which has been riddled with injuries.

The danger that Klizan poses on his opponents is that he really takes the match out of their hands. When he gets going on the forehand side, he can make his opponent suffer considerably, because of the velocity he can produce on that single shot. He also has a decent left-handed serve, but his best serve will be directed into the Djokovic backhand, which could make it less impactful.

The match-wins that Djokovic was able to put together last week in Eastbourne will stand him in good stead going into Wimbledon.

Prediction: Djokovic in three sets.

 

Agnieszka Radwanska [9] vs Jelena Jankovic H2H: Radwanska leads 7-2

These are two players that cannot really buy a single, precious match-win at this moment in time. Jelena Jankovic is on a four match losing streak and has lost seven of her last eight competitive matches, while the World No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska has played just the single grass court match in preparation for this year’s Wimbledon.

The consistency of results and performance of Radwanska over the years feels like a long time ago after a very poor 2017 season by her own standards. I think Radwanska has the edge of Jankovic on a grass court, with Radwanska winning their only ever meeting on grass and leads the head-to-head by a one-sided 7-2.

I don’t think either player will go very far at this tournament, but it is a massive opportunity for either to finally get some momentum for the rest of the season by picking up a victory at a major.

Prediction: Radwanska in two sets.

 

Roger Federer [3] vs Alexandr Dolgopolov H2H: Federer leads 3-0

This could be an historic two weeks for tennis and for Roger Federer as he attempts to be the first man to win eight Wimbledon singles titles. Currently he is tied at seven with Pete Sampras, but Federer comes into the third Grand Slam of the year with a lot of confidence as one of the favourites for the coveted trophy.

His first opponent is Alexandr Dolgopolov. He has been as high as No.13 in the world, but his season really has taken a hit and been derailed by injury. Dolgopolov is a threat on his day. He can flatten out his serve and has a funky, unorthodox game-style, where he applies a lot of variety with the slice, but can frighten his opponents when he ups the pace on his groundstrokes.

I think the Ukrainian can cause problems for Federer, but this should really be the first of many wins for the Swiss over the course of the fortnight when you look at his current form this season and on the grass.

Prediction: Federer in three sets

 

Play begins on the outer courts at 11;30am, with Centre Court & No. 1 Court starting play at 1pm, all times BST.