Glossing over grass: Federer, Monfils reach Halle quarters; Hewitt outwits Dimitrov in London
The senior citizenry of tennis had a fine day as we reach the midway point of the first week’s preparation for Wimbledon 2013, scheduled to begin on 24th June at the AELTC. In Halle, Roger Federer was far from convincing in a straight sets victory over wild card entrant Cedrik-Marcel Stebe to reach the quarter-finals of the Gerry Weber Open. Gael Monfils built on his upset victory over Milos Raonic by clinching an easy 6-2 6-3 passage over Jan Hernych to reach the last eight.
Over in London, Lleyton Hewitt impressed Grigor Dimitrov with a brilliant 6-4, 6-3 thumping of the Bulgarian to prove that there is some more life in the injury-ravaged body of the Aussie fighter. Tomas Berdych, making only his second appearance at the Queens Club, proved to be more than a handful for Thiemo de Bakker. Berdych won 6-1, 6-4 to reach the third round where he shall meet Grega Zemlja. The 7th seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov had a mid-match slump, but brushed aside the second set loss to clinch a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory Santiago Giraldo.
Aegon Championships
A rejuvenated Hewitt treated those present at the Queens Club in London to a timeless treat, offering a lesson in grass court tennis to the promising Dimitrov. The Aussie had exactly a hundred match wins more than his opponent and the difference in experience meant Hewitt needed only 68 minutes to oust the Bulgarian.
Hewitt needs all the matches he can play this week, after having contested just seven times this year owing to recurring niggles. The Aussie will take on the 2010 champion, Sam Querrey, to battle for a place in the quarters. “I feel like in practice, I have been hitting the ball great. It was just a matter of doing it on the match court,” said Hewitt. “My first match here wasn’t pretty, but I fought hard and got through it. That’s what I needed to do. Then today it was a classy performance.”
Dolgopolov needed 18 aces and four breaks to find a way past his obstinate Colombian opponent. Giraldo broke the Ukrainian whilst he was serving to stay in the second set at 4-5 to snatch the second set. But Dolgopolov recovered quickly to break twice in the third set to ensure victory. Wild card entrant Daniel Evans took a surprising 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4 victory over Jarkko Nieminen to earn a date against Juan Martin Del Potro.
At the time of writing, Andy Murray was well on his way to victory over Nicolas Mahut – the Scot had taken the first set 6-3 and was serving at 15-0, 2-2 in the second set when rain interrupted proceedings.