Federer could face Nadal in quarters at Wimbledon
Associated Press
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LONDON — Seven-time champion Roger Federer could face Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon — their earliest meeting in any Grand Slam.
The draw Friday for the grass-court Grand Slam placed the third-seeded Federer and No. 5 Nadal in the same half. Federer is the defending champion at the All England Club, while Nadal is a two-time winner.
Home favorite Andy Murray, who is seeded No. 2, is also in the same bottom half and could meet Nadal or Federer in the semifinal. Top-seeded Novak Djokovic is in the top half and has a much easier path to the final, facing a possible semifinal against No. 4 David Ferrer.
In the women’s draw, five-time champion and top-seeded Serena Williams will open against Mandy Minella of Luxembourg. Second-seeded Victoria Azarenka has a first-round match against Maria Joao Koehler of Portugal.
In the absence of her sister Venus, who pulled out this week with a back injury, Serena is bidding to win her 17th Grand Slam title and considered the overwhelming favorite. Since losing in the first round at the French Open last year, she has amassed a record of 74-3 and won three of the last four major titles.
Nadal and Federer have met in three Wimbledon finals but have never played each other before the semifinals of any Grand Slam tournament. In 2008, they played one of the greatest finals on the London grass, with Nadal prevailing 9-7 in the fifth set to claim his first Wimbledon trophy.
Last year, Federer won his record-tying seventh Wimbledon title by beating Murray in the final. Murray, who later beat Federer for the Olympic gold at Wimbledon, will be bidding to become the first British player to win the men’s title since Fred Perry in 1936.
The other possible men’s quarterfinals are: Djokovic against No.7 Tomas Berdych; Ferrer vs. No. 8 Juan Martin Del Potro and Murray against No.6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Wimbledon’s seeding order is determined using the ATP rankings and points are added for achievements in grass-court tournaments over the past 12 months.
Nadal, coming off his eighth French Open victory, has been seeded No. 5 after being sidelined for about seven months with a left knee injury following his surprise loss in the second round at Wimbledon last year.
Nadal has looked unstoppable since his return from injury, winning seven titles in nine finals. The draw is certainly a tough one for Federer, who has recently struggled but rallied to victory in Halle, Germany, in his favorite warm-up for Wimbledon. Four of Federer’s seven wins at Wimbledon came after he lifted the trophy in Halle.
But Nadal is also facing a daunting challenge, with the prospect of having to beat Federer, Murray and Djokovic to claim the title.
Nadal, who owns 12 Grand Slam titles, boasts a 43-2 record in 2013. He’s on a 22-match winning streak, but has not played since the French Open after deciding to rest rather than play in Halle.
Earlier this week, Murray said he was not concerned about the draw, knowing that he would have to beat the best players in the field to end the British drought in Wimbledon.
“If you want to win the biggest tournaments, you have to beat the best players in the world,” the U.S. Open champion said. “It doesn’t really matter where they are in the draw.”
Federer, Nadal and Murray will all play opening day on Monday at Wimbledon.
Federer will open the defense of his title against Victor Hanescu of Romania, while Nadal will take on Steve Darcis of Belgium and Murray plays Benjamin Becker of Germany, an opponent he beat last week at the Queen’s Club.
Djokovic, who won Wimbledon two years ago, will start on Tuesday against Florian Mayer of Germany. He is guaranteed to keep the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings after the tournament whatever the result he achieves.
There are several noteworthy first-round matchups in the draw, with former champion Lleyton Hewitt facing No. 11 Stanislas Wawrinka; No.21 Sam Querrey against Bernard Tomic; and No. 10 Marin Cilic playing Marcos Baghdatis.
No. 3 Maria Sharapova, who lost to Williams in the French Open final, will open her Wimbledon campaign against Kristina Mladenovic. No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska will take on qualifier Yvonne Meusburger.
The possible women’s quarterfinals: Williams vs. No. 7 Angelique Kerber; Radwanska vs. No. 6 Li Na; Sharapova against No. 5 Sara Errani, and Azarenka vs. eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova.
At The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club
London
June 24-July 7
q-qualifier, w-wild card, l-lucky loser
Men
Novak Djokovic (1), Serbia, vs. Florian Mayer, Germany
q-Bobby Reynolds, United States, vs. w-Steve Johnson, United States
Blaz Kavcic, Slovenia, vs. q-Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany
Ryan Harrison, United States, vs. Jeremy Chardy (28), France
Gilles Simon (19), France, vs. Feliciano Lopez, Spain
Ricardas Berankis, Lithuania, vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu, France
q-Wayne Odesnik, United States, vs. q-Jimmy Wang, Taiwan
Dmitry Tursunov, Russia, vs. Tommy Haas (13), Germany
Richard Gasquet (9), France, vs. Marcel Granollers, Spain
Andreas Haider-Maurer, Austria, vs. q-Go Soeda, Japan
James Blake, United States, vs. Thiemo de Bakker, Netherlands
Bernard Tomic, Australia, vs. Sam Querrey (21), United States
Kevin Anderson (27), South Africa, vs. l-Olivier Rochus, Belgium
Philipp Petzschner, Germany, vs. q-Michal Przysiezny, Poland
Daniel Brands, Germany, vs. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Spain
Martin Klizan, Slovakia, vs. Tomas Berdych (7), Czech Republic
David Ferrer (4), Spain, vs. Martin Alund, Argentina
Roberto Bautista Agut, Spain, vs. q-Teymuraz Gabashvili, Russia
Horacio Zeballos, Argentina, vs. Santiago Giraldo, Colombia
Gastao Elias, Portugal, vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov (26), Ukraine
Milos Raonic (17), Canada, vs. Carlos Berlocq, Argentina
q-Alex Kuznetsov, United States, vs. Igor Sijsling, Netherlands
q-James Duckworth, Australia, vs. q-Denis Kudla, United States
Ivan Dodig, Croatia, vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber (16), Germany
Kei Nishikori (12), Japan, vs. w-Matthew Ebden, Australia
Leonardo Mayer, Argentina, vs. Aljaz Bedene, Slovenia
Michael Llodra, France, vs. Jarkko Nieminen, Finland
Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan, vs. Andreas Seppi (23), Italy
Grigor Dimitrov (29), Bulgaria, vs. Simone Bolelli, Italy
Grega Zemlja, Slovenia, vs. Michael Russell, United States
Guido Pella, Argentina, vs. Jesse Levine, Canada
Albert Ramos, Spain, vs. Juan Martin del Potro (8), Argentina
Rafael Nadal (5), Spain, vs. Steve Darcis, Belgium
Lukasz Kubot, Poland, vs. Igor Andreev, Russia
q-Stephane Robert, France, vs. Alejandro Falla, Colombia
Adrian Ungur, Romania, vs. Benoit Paire (25), France
John Isner (18), United States, vs. Evgeny Donskoy, Russia
Pablo Andujar, Spain, vs. Adrian Mannarino, France
q-Dustin Brown, Germany, vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spain
Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, vs. Stanislas Wawrinka (11), Switzerland
Nicolas Almagro (15), Spain, vs. Jurgen Zopp, Estonia
Marinko Matosevic, Australia, vs. Guillaume Rufin, France
Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic, vs. q-Matt Reid, Australia
w-Kyle Edmund, Britain, vs. Jerzy Janowicz (24), Poland
Fabio Fognini (30), Italy, vs. Jurgen Melzer, Austria
q-Julian Reister, Germany, vs. Lukas Rosol, Czech Republic
Rogerio Dutra Silva, Brazil, vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ukraine
Victor Hanescu, Romania, vs. Roger Federer (3), Switzerland
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (6), France, vs. David Goffin, Belgium
Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France, vs. Ernests Gulbis, Latvia
Fernando Verdasco, Spain, vs. Xavier Malisse, Belgium
Tobias Kamke, Germany, vs. Julien Benneteau (31), France
Juan Monaco (22), Argentina, vs. q-Bastian Knittel, Germany
Lukas Lacko, Slovakia, vs. Rajeev Ram, United States
Kenny de Schepper, France, vs. Paolo Lorenzi, Italy
Marcos Baghdatis, Cyprus, vs. Marin Cilic (10), Croatia
Janko Tipsarevic (14), Serbia, vs. Viktor Troicki, Serbia
Andrey Kuznetsov, Russia, vs. Albert Montanes, Spain
q-Marc Gicquel, France, vs. Vasek Pospisil, Canada
Robin Haase, Netherlands, vs. Mikhail Youzhny (20), Russia
Tommy Robredo (32), Spain, vs. Alex Bogomolov Jr., Russia
w-Nicolas Mahut, France, vs. Jan Hajek, Czech Republic
w-James Ward, Britain, vs. Yen-hsun Lu, Taiwan
Benjamin Becker, Germany, vs. Andy Murray (2), Britain
Women
Serena Williams (1), United States, vs. Mandy Minella, Luxembourg
q-Caroline Garcia, France, vs. Zheng Jie, China
Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, vs. q-Carina Witthoeft, Germany
Alexandra Cadantu, Romania, vs. Tamira Paszek (28), Austria
Sabine Lisicki (23), Germany, vs. Francesca Schiavone, Italy
Elena Vesnina, Russia, vs. Andrea Hlavackova, Czech Republic
Olga Puchkova, Russia, vs. Arantxa Rus, Netherlands
l-Anna Schmiedlova, Slovakia, vs. Sam Stosur (14), Australia
Maria Kirilenko (10), Russia, vs. Laura Robson, Britain
q-Mariana Duque-Marino, Colombia, vs. Julia Goerges, Germany
Ayumi Morita, Japan, vs. Marina Erakovic, New Zealand
Anabel Medina Garrigues, Spain, vs. Peng Shuai (24), China
Romina Oprandi (31), Switzerland, vs. w-Alison Riske, United States
Mallory Burdette, United States, vs. Urszula Radwanska, Poland
Kaia Kanepi, Estonia, vs. w-Tara Moore, Britain
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, United States, vs. Angelique Kerber (7), Germany
Agnieszka Radwanska (4), Poland, vs. q-Yvonne Meusburger, Austria
Timea Babos, Hungary, vs. Mathilde Johansson, France
Heather Watson, Britain, vs. Madison Keys, United States
Monica Niculescu, Romania, vs. Mona Barthel (30), Germany
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (21), Russia, vs. Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria
q-Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Czech Republic, vs. Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia
Anna Tatishvili, Georgia, vs. Petra Martic, Croatia
Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic, vs. Nadia Petrova (13), Russia
Roberta Vinci (11), Italy, vs. Chanelle Scheepers, South Africa
Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic, vs. Jana Cepelova, Slovakia
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor, Spain, vs. Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania
q-Maria Elena Camerin, Italy, vs. Dominika Cibulkova (18), Slovakia
Klara Zakopalova (32), Czech Republic, vs. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia
Nina Bratchikova, Russia, vs. Annika Beck, Germany
Olga Govortsova, Belarus, vs. Simona Halep, Romania
Michaella Krajicek, Netherlands, vs. Li Na (6), China
Sara Errani (5), Italy, vs. Monica Puig, Puerto Rico
Silvia Soler-Espinosa, Spain, vs. Misaki Doi, Japan
Lara Arruabarrena, Spain, vs. Lesia Tsurenko, Ukraine
q-Eva Birnerova, Czech Republic, vs. Varvara Lepchenko (26), United States
Sloane Stephens (17), United States, vs. Jamie Hampton, United States
Pauline Parmentier, France, vs. w-Andrea Petkovic, Germany
q-Petra Cetkovska, Czech Republic, vs. Donna Vekic, Croatia
Estrela Cabeza Candela, Spain, vs. Caroline Wozniacki (9), Denmark
Marion Bartoli (15), France, vs. Elina Svitolina, Ukraine
Christina McHale, United States, vs. Alexa Glatch, United States
Camila Giorgi, Italy, vs. w-Samantha Murray, Britain
Stefanie Voegele, Switzerland, vs. Sorana Cirstea (22), Romania
Lucie Safarova (27), Czech Republic, vs. Lauren Davis, United States
w-Lucie Hradecka, Czech Republic, vs. Karin Knapp, Italy
q-Michelle Larcher de Brito, Portugal, vs. Melanie Oudin, United States
Kristina Mladenovic, France, vs. Maria Sharapova (3), Russia
Petra Kvitova (8), Czech Republic, vs. CoCo Vandeweghe, United States
Kiki Bertens, Netherlands, vs. Yaroslava Shvedova, Kazakhstan
Garbine Muguruza, Spain, vs. w-Anne Keothavong, Britain
Johanna Larsson, Sweden, vs. Ekaterina Makarova (25), Russia
Carla Suarez Navarro (19), Spain, vs. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, Spain
Sofia Arvidsson, Sweden, vs. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia
Eugenie Bouchard, Canada, vs. q-Galina Voskoboeva, Kazakhstan
q-Virginie Razzano, France, vs. Ana Ivanovic (12), Serbia
Jelena Jankovic (16), Serbia, vs. w-Johanna Konta, Britain
Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium, vs. Vesna Dolonc, Serbia
q-Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, vs. Bojana Jovanovski, Serbia
Yulia Putintseva, Kazakhstan, vs. Kirsten Flipkens (20), Belgium
Alize Cornet (29), France, vs. l-Vania King, United States
Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, vs. Tatjana Maria, Germany
w-Elena Baltacha, Britain, vs. Flavia Pennetta, Italy
Maria Joao Koehler, Portugal, vs. Victoria Azarenka (2), Belarus
