Sunday, June 30, 2013

2013 WIMBLEDON Day 6: Less Than Half Of Top Seeds Remain


The first week of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships is now complete, with 16 men and 16 women remaining undefeated. All 32 will be competing in singles matches on Monday, what ESPN likes to call "the greatest day in tennis all year": the Round of 16 at Wimbledon. After Wednesday's historic day of carnage when seven former World #1's lost on the same day, some order was restored in the next two somewhat rainy days of play to finish off the first week of play. That being said, only 4 of the women's top 10 seeds and 5 of the men's top 10 seeds remain in the draw, the lowest totals for a major in well over a decade.

The four remaining women's seeds are led by Serena Williams [1] who played the very last match of the week, under the lights and roof of Centre Court, notching her 600th career win and 34th in her current winning streak by dispatching 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-2 6-0. The others are Li Na [6], last year's Wimbledon finalist Agnieska Radwanska [4] and 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova [8]. Kvitova is safely in the bottom half of the draw, but to reach her second major final the Czech lefty will need to get past a hungry young player like Sloane Stephens (the American youngster who is also the last player to beat Serena at a grand slam tournament in over a year) or a wily veteran like 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, the last woman to beat Serena at Wimbledon (which she did in the Round of 16 in 2011).

The five remaining men's seeds are  Novak Djokovic [1]Andy Murray [2], David Ferrer [4], Tomas Berdych [7] and Juan Martin del Potro [8]. Astonishingly, Murray is the only member of the Top 10 in his half of the draw, so in the top half Djokovic will have to go through Tommy Haas [13] in the 4th round, potentially 2010 Wimbledon finalist Berdych in the quarterfinals and most likely the winner of the Ferrer-del Potro showdown in the semifinal. If all that happens, then the 2011 Wimbledon champion would face last year's Wimbledon finalist in this year's final.

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