Wimbledon: 2nd Round

The second round is in the books now as Thiemo de Bakker swept past an exhausted John Isner and Mikhail Youzhny was upset by Paul-Henri Mathieu.  And all the talk is still about the first round match that redefinied the word "epic".  My personal congratulations to Isner and Mahut for a classic match, one I am privileged to have paid attention to.

Men

Only three men's seeds were defeated in the second round, and two of those came in the last two matches, played earlier today.  Therefore, 11 seeds are now out on the men's side, 12 if you count Gulbis.  A year ago at Wimbledon, just 6 men's seeds had lost by this point, 7 if you count the withdrawal of Nadal.  The two second round losers were Del Potro and Schuettler.  Earlier this year, 3 more seeds were 2nd round losers at the Aussie Open and French Open both bringing the total out to 10 and 8, respectively.

Those seeds out in the second round are:
7) Davydenko to Brands 1-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-1
13) Youzhny to Mathieu 6-4, 2-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
23) Isner to de Bakker 6-0, 6-3, 6-2

Some notes: Both seeds playing in the extended 2nd round this morning lose, though certainly none can blame Isner, who has now played in the longest and shortest men's matches this year.  Movement in the virtual rankings included Bellucci moving past Ferrero to #21, Benneteau surpassing Llodra for #34, and Petzschner moving up 2 spots to #38

Top 50 men who have successfully defended 3rd round points: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA), David Ferrer (ESP), Jurgen Melzer (AUT), Albert Montanes (ESP), Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER), Victor Hanescu (ROU), Philipp Petzschner (GER)
Others failing to defend 3rd round points (round lost after hyphen): Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)-2, Marin Cilic (CRO)-1, Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)-none, Tommy Robredo (ESP)-1, Viktor Troicki (SRB)-2

Women

Six seeded women fell in round 2 bringing the total for 2010 Wimbledon to nine, though that number is increased to 11 if you count Safina and Martinez Sanchez.  At last year's Wimbledon, only three seeded players lost in round 2 (Zheng, Sharapova, and Pavlyuchenkova), but that brought to total to 11.  Contrasting to the round 1 losers from 2009, besides Zheng who was one of the round 2 losers this year, Sharapova and Pavlyuchenkova are still alive in this tournament, also still seeded.  At this year's Aussie Open and French Open, seven and five seeded women fell out in the second round, respectively, bringing those totals for the tournament to 12 and 8 women, respectively.  Zheng has lost in the second round now and two straight slams after her semis down under, while Rezai has bowed out in the second round now at the AO and Wimbledon.

Second round seeds losing were:

13) Peer
18) Rezai
19) Kuznetsova
23) Zheng
24) Hantuchova
30) Shvedova

More notes: Success does not necessarily follow success for players who had good Frech Opens.  Quarterfinalist Shvedova, 4th round players Peer and Rezai are gone already at Wimbledon in addition to Stosur and Schiavone, the finalists.  Kuznetsova continues to struggled since her French Open championship in 2009.  Hantuchova fails to defend her 4th round points, but may not fall much in the rankings due to a 200 point gap between her and the next player down.  Upwardly mobile players in the virtual rankings include Pavlyuchenkova moving past Shvedova to #31, Errani moving past Petkovic to #33, and Cibulkova jumping up 2 more spots, due to the poor play of those 36 to 45 in the rankings as mentioned earlier.
Top 50 women who have successfully defended 3rd round points: Jelena Jankovic (SRB), Flavia Pennetta (ITA), Na Li (CHN), Marion Bartoli (FRA), Vera Zvonareva (RUS), Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)
Others failing to defend 3rd round points (round lost after hyphen): Samantha Stosur (AUS)-1, Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)-2, Anabel Median Garrigues (ESP)-1, Gisela Dulko (ARG)-1, Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)-1, Roberta Vinci (ITA)-2

**Note: I have added a link to the right side of the blog to my Google Doc of the Wimbledon Virtual Rankings. This is being updated daily after the day's match have concluded.