The match of the day on Friday on the mens side was Grigor Dimitrov’s five set victory over Alexandr Dolgopolov.  Dimitrov came from two sets to one down to claim an absolutely HUGE victory.  He will be the heavy favourite to reach the quarter-finals.  My predictions have been poor lately, but Wimbledon has started well for me. I had Jeremy Chardy and Marin Cilic both to reach the 4th round and it happened! On paper, all of the seeds have pretty straightforward looking matches on Saturday.  Therefore, I’ve chosen to preview a match that has really gripped my attention featuring two of the most exciting prospects on the ATP tour.

TFF DreamTeam Update: Ray still leads the way with woo in 2nd place and julygrass in 3rd place.

Fantasy Wimbledon Update: Jared Pine is leading the way with FJ in 2nd place and Cosima_N in 3rd place.  I’m currently in 3rd place and need to update my team for Saturday!

Poll Results: 83% correctly went for Dimitrov to beat Dolgopolov.  In the other two matches that haven’t yet finished at the time of writing, 79% went for Murray to beat Bautista Agut and Berdych v Cilic was 50/50 with Berdych receiving one more vote!

1. Nick Kyrgios v Jiri Vesely

Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet were projected to meet in the third round of Wimbledon.  After two five set upsets, Gasquet v Monfils has become Jiri Vesely and Nick Kyrgios, a match that will feature two of the most talented up-and-comers on the ATP tour gunning for their first ever fourth round appearance at a Grand Slam.  Vesely was two sets up against Monfils, playing some delightful grass court tennis.  Monfils looked to be struggling with an injury.  In typically Gael-like fashion, the flamboyant Frenchman reeled off two tiebreak sets to level the match up.  Monfils had a break point at 4-3 in the decider, which would have seen him serve for the match.  However Vesely saved the break points, broke in the next game and then served out the match, saving more break points.  It was a tremendous display from the young Czech player, who has been quietly racking up wins this year.  Vesely has won 12 ATP main draw matches and came into Wimbledon with no grass court matches, instead choosing to play two Challenger events on clay, of which he won one in Prostejov and reached the final in Prague, losing to none other than Lukas Rosol.

While Vesely’s win was extremely impressive, Kyrgios took it to another level.  The incredibly promising Australian player came from two sets down and saved NINE match point to oust Richard Gasquet, 3-6 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 10-8 in three hours and 55 minutes.  If you’re in the UK, you can watch a video here of all the match points he saved, which included one on a hawkeye challenge where a Kyrgios second serve that was originally called out!  This guy is such a talent and to pull out this win was pretty staggering, one that didn’t get quite as much attention as it deserved.  Kyrgios has been working the Challenger tour this year; he has won three Challenger events including in Nottingham two weeks ago on the grass where he came through qualifying and won eight matches on his way to the title.  The pair have never played before on the ATP tour or on the Challenger circuit.  I get the feeling that Kyrgios will be the favourite in this match, but Vesely would be my tip in an entertaining and close match.

Prediction: Vesely d. Kyrgios in 5 sets

2. Stan Wawrinka v Denis Istomin

Stan Wawrinka has reached the third round of Wimbledon for the first time since 2009.  In the second round, Stan needed four sets to get past Yen-Hsun Lu, a very talented player on the grass.  Wawrinka now takes on Denis Istomin, who has been producing some solid results on tour this year.  He defeated a seed in the first round,  Dmitry Tursunov in the first round.  It was the fifth time that the pair have played this year and Istomin has won the last four match-ups.  Istomin hasn’t had any really big results from my knowledge and Stan on grass will be a winnable match.  I’ll take Stan, but expect Denis to give the Australian Open champion a stern test.

Prediction: Wawrinka d. Istomin in 4 sets

ATP Wimbledon 3rd Round Predictions

Feliciano Lopez d. John Isner in 4 sets (at least 3 tiebreaks)

Jerzy Janowicz d. Tommy Robredo in 4 sets

Roger Federer d. Santiago Giraldo in 3 sets

Milos Raonic d. Lukasz Kubot in 3 sets (2 tiebreaks)

Kei Nishikori d. Simone Bolelli in 3 sets

Rafael Nadal d. Mikhail Kukushkin in 3 sets