Wimbledon: 3rd Round

We are now down to the final 16 in the men's and women's singles draws.  Lots of good tennis still to come as the top 6 and 8 of the top 9 seeds are left on the men's side and the top 4 seeds on the women's side plus Clijsters, Henin, and Sharapova.  The tournament hasn't been nearly as surprising (yet) as the French or even AO.  But just I say that, watch Marion Bartoli continue the underdog theme of the past 3 big women's tournaments and win the whole thing!  I'll continue this post in a similar format to the past couple but please let me know what you'd like to see comment on if this isn't satisfactory.

On a quick side, how about German tennis?  The future is bright, and their top 2 players Haas and Lisicki aren't even playing here.  The men have had good runs from Kohlschreiber, Petzschner, and Brands, and the women with Petkovic and Kerber.

Men

Thirteen men's seeds remain in the draw, the three unseeded players being massive surprises with rather high rankings.  So props to Daniel Brands (GER), Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA), Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE).

The seeds eliminated in the third round are:
21) Monfils to 15) Hewitt 6-3, 7-6, 6-4
22) Lopez to 16) Melzer 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
25) Bellucci to 6) Soderling 6-4, 6-2, 7-5
26) Simon to 4) Murray 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
28) Montanes to 3) Djokovic 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
29) Kohlschreiber to 5) Roddick 7-5, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
31) Hanescu to Brands, retired in the 5th after blowing 2-0 lead

Some notes: Only Hanescu lost to a player seeded below him though so not many upsets happening.  Lopez made the fourth round atoning for his first round defeat a year ago.  Simon should gain some confidence after his absolutely horrible start to the year.  Three players have yet to drop a set:  Murray, Soderling, and (surprise) Yen-Hsun Lu.  In the virtual rankings, Soderling has taken over #4 from Davydenko, Roddick has surprised Verdasco for #8, Melzer has gone past Ljubicic for #15, Querrey advances beyond Almagro to #19, Benneteau has moved up two spots to #32 past Kohlschreiber and Simon.  Murray and Roddick could be hard pressed to stay where they are at in actual rankings due to their large amounts of points to defend.

Top 50 men who have successfully defended 4th round points: Robin Soderling (SWE), Tomas Berdych (CZE)
Others failing to defend 4th round points (round lost after hyphen): Fernando Veradsco (ESP)-1, Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)-1, Radek Stepanek (CZE)-injured, Gilles Simon (FRA)-3

Women
Eleven seeded women remain in the draw, and like the men the five unseeded players are pretty good surprises.  But the performance of the Czech women this tournament has been very good except for their one seeded player, Lucie Safarova.  Those five are Jarmila Groth (AUS), Kaia Kanepi-qualifier though once a top 20 player-(EST), Petra Kvitova (CZE), Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL), Klara Zakopalova (CZE).

Third round losing seeds were:

10) Pennetta to Zakopalova 6-2, 6-3
12) Petrova to 17) Henin 6-1, 6-4
14) Azarenka to Kvitova 7-5, 6-0
15) Wickmayer to 21) Zvonareva 6-1, 6-2
26) Kleybanova to 2) V.Williams 6-2, 6-4
27) Kirilenko to 8) Clijsters 6-3, 6-3
28) A.Bondarenko to 4) Jankovic 6-0, 6-3
29) Pavlyuchenkova to 3) Wozniacki 7-5, 6-4
31) Dulgheru to Kanepi 6-1, 6-2
32) Errani to 7) Radwanska 6-3, 6-1

More notes:  The draw has really opened for Wozniacki and V.Williams whereas the quarters of S.Williams and Jankovic are quite tough.  Only two Russians remain in the draw (Zvonareva and Sharapova) as that nation's slump continues.  Of the seeds that lost, it is a mix of losing to higher and lower ranked players.  I had though Azarenka was beginning to get back in the groove but along comes Petra Kvitova, who beat Safina at the 2009 US Open.  Azarenka now will now fall to #17 in the rankings, and she could drop lower if Zvonareva continues to win.  In the virtual rankings, Li has now passed Pennetta to move back into the top 10, Sharapova passes Peer for #14, and Zvonareva has jumped Rezai to #20.  Also the top 4 (Williams sisters, Wozniacki, and Jankovic) are really separating themselves from the rest of the field.  Only a championship for Clijsters can now disrupt the top 4.

Not a single 3-set match in the women's 3rd round and only 3 of the remaining have lost a set:  Jankovic (to Wozniak to round 2),  Kvitova (to 23) Zheng in round 2), and Zakopalova (to Meusberger to round 1 and 18) Rezai in round 2).

Top 50 women who have successfully defended 4th round points: Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
Others failing to defend 4th round points (round lost after hyphen): Nadia Petrova (RUS)-3, Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)-2, Melanie Oudin (USA)-2, Elena Vesnina (RUS)-1, Ana Ivanovic (SRB)-1