Wimbledon Day 3 Preview: Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal Take Centerstage
As expected, the men’s top four seeds barged through the second round of the Wimbledon without a hitch. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic had easy victories in the first round where both their opponents retired to injury. Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal takes the court in Day 3 of the competition with the third round in sight.
According to Metro, Day 3 of the Wimbledon 2017 will see Murray take on Dustin Brown of Germany while Rafael Nadal will hope to avoid the upset ax as he goes up against Donald Young. Johanna Konta, Great Britain’s number one female player and the tournament sixth-seed, will take on Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the first match at Center Court.
Wimbledon Tennis Championships Day 3: Matches to Watch in the Second Round
Center Court (Starts at 1 p.m. local time, 8 a.m. EST)
The sixth-seeded Johanna Konta of England opens the hostilities at Center Court by facing Donna Vekic of Croatia. Konta defeated Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh in the first round 6-2, 6-2 while Vekic needed three sets to beat Natalia Vikhlyantseva of Russia, 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-1.
World number one and tournament top seed Andy Murray will look to avoid an upset as he faces Dustin Brown in their second round match. The Scot Murray breezed past Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the first round, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 while the German Brown beat Joao Sousa of Portugal, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-4.
The fourth-seeded Spanish, Rafael Nadal, will take on Donald Young in the day’s last match at Center Court. The current world number two Nadal defeated the Australian John Millman 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round while Young needed four sets to beat Deniz Istomin of Uzbekistan 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 4-2 (ret).
Court 1 (Starts at 1 p.m. local time, 8 a.m. EST)
In Court 1, Japanese Ken Nishikori takes on Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in the first match at Court 1. The fourth seed and current world number 9 made short work of Italy’s Marco Cecchinato in the first round, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 while Stakhovsky outlasted Julien Benneteau of France, 6-3, 7-6 (10), 2-6, 6-2.
American tenth-seed Venus Williams faces China’s Qiang Wang in a second round encounter, also at Court 1. The current world number 11 Williams defeated Elise Mertens of Belgium, 7-6 (9), 6-4 in the first round while Wang overcame Kai-Chen Chang 6-3, 6-4.
The second-seeded Simona Halep of Romania takes the nightcap schedule versus Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil at Court 1. The current world number 2 Halep beat Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-4, 6-1 in the first round while Haddad Maia defeated Laura Robson of Australia, 6-4, 6-2.
Court 2 (Starts at 11:30 a.m. local time, 6:30 a.m. EST)
18th-seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia is scheduled to meet Heather Watson of Great Britain in the first match at Court 2. Sevastova defeated Yulia Putintseva of Kazakstan in the first round while Watson beat Maryna Zanevska in straight sets.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, the tournament number 12 seed, will battle Simone Bolelli of Italy for a spot in the third round, also at Court 2. The current world number 10 Tsonga defeated Cameron Norrie of South Africa in straight sets in their first round match while Bolelli needed 4 sets to dispatch Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu to barge into the second round.
Seventh seed Marin Cilic of Croatia takes the last match on Court 2 as he battles Florian Mayer of Germany for a slot in the third round. The current world number six Cilic beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the first round while Mayer needed only one set to go through the second round as Victor Troicki of Serbia was unable to continue due to injury.
Other notable match-ups:
15th-seeded Russian Elena Vesnina will face Victoria Azarenka of Belarus for a spot in the third round on Court 3. The 4th-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine tests Francesca Schiavone of Italy on Court 12 while the 18th-seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia is set to meet Jennifer Brady of the USA on Court 18.
[Featured Image by David Ramos/Getty Images]
