Wimbledon Day Two Preview: Matchups to Watch

June 29, 2015 | By Brian Coleman
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Photo credit: Kenneth B. Goldberg

Men
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2) Roger Federer vs. Damir Dzhumhur
The seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer will kick off his 2015 campaign at the All-England Club against Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur. The two have met just once before but it was recently as Federer beat Dzumhur 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in the Round of 32 at the French Open last month.

This match will obviously be on grass instead of clay, but the second-ranked player in the world Federer is coming off a grass-court title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany.  Federer reached the finals of this tournament a year ago before losing to Novak Djokovic.

(3) Andy Murray vs. Mikhail Kukushkin
The 2013 champion Andy Murray looks to return to the top of the tournament that is played in his home country, and gets his run started against Kazakhkstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin on Tuesday.

Murray is 2-0 in his career against Kukushkin, but the two haven’t played since the 2012 Australian Open.

Outside of Djokovic, nobody is playing better tennis in 2015 than third-ranked Andy Murray. The Scot has lost just six matches this year, four of which have come to Djokovic.

(10) Rafael Nadal vs. Thomaz Bellucci
Rafael Nadal is seeking his third Wimbledon title when he kicks off his tournament on Tuesday. The 10th seeded Spaniard hasn’t played his best tennis in 2015 and is coming off a first-round loss to 79th ranked Alexandr Dolgopolov at the Aegon Championships two weeks ago.

Nadal will look to get back on track when he meets Bellucci on Tuesday. Nadal is 4-0 all-time against the Brazilian. He beat him in straight sets in the first-round of Wimbledon in 2012, the year Nadal captured his second title At the Queen’s Club.

Women
(2) Petra Kvitova vs. Kiki Bertens
Petra Kvitova is coming off of her second Wimbledon title and will kick off her title defense against Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands on Tuesday. The second-seeded Czech hasn’t played much this season and last played at the French Open, where she reached the Round of 16.

Kvitova and Bertens have never played one another, and Kvitova will look to make quick work of Bertens as she looks to defend her 2014 title.

►(3) Simona Halep vs. Jana Cepelova
Simona Halep isn’t playing her best tennis heading into Wimbledon, but will look to get regain her form on grass that helped her reach the semifinals here a year ago. She is hoping to reverse the trend that has seen her bow out early at the two major tournaments this year.

Halep beat Cepelova 6-2, 6-1 in the Round of 64 at the US Open last year in the only career meeting between the two. Halep plays some of her best tennis on the grass surface and should be a major player over the next two weeks.

►(5) Caroline Wozniacki vs. Saisai Zheng
The fifth-seeded Dane hopes to find her health when she takes to the court on Tuesday. She retired from her semifinal match in Eastbourne last week in hopes of getting herself ready to go for the third Grand Slam of the season.

Wimbledon is the major that Wozniacki has had the least amount of success at in her career. Her best showing was reaching the fourth-round, which she has done four times including last year.

She will play an unfamiliar opponent in Zheng in the first-round. The two have never faced each other before.

 


Brian Coleman

 Brian Coleman is the Senior Editor for New York Tennis Magazine. He may be reached at brianc@usptennis.com

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