Wimbledon 2013: Men's singles quarter-final preview

A tumultuous first week at Wimbledon saw seeds tumble out of the tournament like bowling pins. The men’s and women’s line-up bore the brunt of a few massive upsets, some excruciatingly painful pull-outs and the camouflaged excellence that categorised the brilliance of those making it into the second week.

Though the business end of the Wimbledon action witnessed one more shocker – the least expected perhaps – in the women’s proceedings, sedateness prevailed in the men’s line-up. The eight quarter-finalists came through without much ado even as the crowd favourites continued to enthrall as ever, not losing a beat in their march towards the final Sunday.

Centre Court

First quarter-final: David Ferrer vs Juan Martin Del Potro

David Ferrer

Both aren’t exactly adept at playing on the grass courts though each contender’s route to the quarter-final has been largely different. The Spaniard had to play three gruelling matches, including one tight five-setter against Ukrainian Dolgopolov in the third round. The Argentine in contrast, pretty much coasted through his earlier rounds which made his quarter-final presence even more significant.

A lot of variables thus constitute this quarter-final between the fourth seed Ferrer and the eight seed Del Potro. In his last two matches, Ferrer did well to come from behind a set to take control of the match and steer it his way with his vintage doggedness wearing his opponent down physically and mentally.

Del Potro would therefore need to be extremely cautious of this ability of Ferrer to stay solid and focused at all stages of their game using his strengths to his advantage. Loose points which seemed to be freely given by each of the Argentine’s previous opponents would be hard to come by, just as long and prolonged rallies would mark the trajectory of each point.

Match Prediction: David Ferrer def. Juan Martin Del Potro in four sets.