Wimbledon 2011: Gentlemen's Singles Predictions - Top Half

Gentlemen's Singles action at Wimbledon 2011 gets underway on Monday with Day 1 action featuring the top half of the draw.  Here's a look at how the first week of action at The All-England Club will shake out:

FIRST QUARTER

Rafael Nadal ESP (1) v Michael Russell USA
Pablo Andujar ESP v Ryan Sweeting USA
WC Gilles Muller LUX v Tommy Haas GER
Fabio Fognini ITA v Milos Raonic CAN (31)

Right off the bat, I'm having all sorts of problems with predicting who comes out of the first section.  It should be straightforward enough for Rafael Nadal, the ATP No. 1 and defending champion at Wimbledon who has won four of the last five grand slams.  But Nadal wasn't near his best for large chunks of his title run at Roland Garros, and crashed out of his lone grass warm-up tournament at Queen's Club messily.  And lurking at the bottom of his section is astronomically rising Canadian Milos Raonic, who has the power to hit through Nadal with some ease on these grass courts.  I wish I had the cojones to pick Raonic to get through here, but I'm just gonna play it safe.  But if Raonic does become the first player to beat Nadal in the first week of a slam since 2005, you (sorta) heard it hear first.  Predicted Round of 16er: Rafael Nadal

Juan Martin Del Potro ARG (24) v Q Flavio Cipolla ITA
Olivier Rochus BEL v Q Kenny De Schepper FRA
Frederico Gil POR v WC Dudi Sela ISR
Q Edouard Roger-Vasselin FRA v Gilles Simon FRA (15)

Juan Martin Del Potro has a big serve and huge groundstrokes, but his height and lack of footwork have prevented him from grass court successes so far in his career.  A second round match against grass-loving gnome Olivier Rochus could prove to be his undoing here.  At the very least, it will offer a hilarious height disparity during the handshake.  With that in mind, I like Gilles Simon to get through here.  But if not him, the very grass-adept Dudi Sela could cause some surprises.  Predicted Round of 16er: Gilles Simon

Mardy Fish USA (10) v Marcel Granollers ESP
Philipp Kohlschreiber GER v Denis Istomin UZB
Robin Haase NED v Pere Riba ESP
Radek Stepanek CZE v Fernando Verdasco ESP (21)

This should be a real fun section.  Mardy Fish, currently at his career high ranking of No. 9,  has made several ATP finals on grass, but has never made the second week at Wimbledon.  Philipp Kohlschreiber is a real dangerous shotmaker, and won the grass-court warm-up event in Halle, Germany earlier this month.  Robin Haase is an extremely aggressive player whose game is at his best on grass, though injuries often hold him back.  And lastly, first round opponents Radek Stepanek and Fernando Verdasco both play some of their best tennis on grass, and have each made the second week of Wimbledon multiple times. I think Fish is the most consistent of the contenders here lately, so I'll go with him.  Predicted Round of 16er: Mardy Fish

Juan Ignacio Chela ARG (25) v Q Marinko Matosevic AUS
Donald Young USA v Alex Bogomolov Jr. USA
Q Ruben Bemelmans BEL v Julien Benneteau FRA
Filippo Volandri ITA v Tomas Berdych CZE (6)

2010 runner-up Tomas Berdych could not have gotten much luckier with his first week path at SW19 this year.  Only the flashy Julien Benneteau should be able to give him much trouble early on, and that still is a match the struggling Berdych should be able to win easily.  Interesting first round match between Americans Donald Young and Alex Bogomolov Jr.--could turn out to be a pretty contentious one given their personalities.  Predicted Round of 16er: Tomas Berdych

SECOND QUARTER

Andy Murray GBR (4) v Daniel Gimeno-Traver ESP
Tobias Kamke GER v Blaz Kavcic SLO
Sergiy Stakhovsky UKR v WC Daniel Cox GBR
Ivan Ljubicic CRO v Marin Cilic CRO (27)

The Brits should have little to fret over through native son Andy Murray's first two rounds at the All-England Club, but whomever he plays in the third round should prove to be pretty tough.  Marin Cilic has earned a reputation as one of the streakiest players in tennis, but he's beaten Murray before at a slam, straight-setting the Scot at the 2009 US Open.  And Sergiy Stakhovsky is a real tricky player with a ton of variety, especially on grass.  If Stakhovsky and Murray do meet, records for most drop shots in a match will most certainly be shattered.  Predicted Round of 16er: Andy Murray

Richard Gasquet FRA (17) v Santiago Giraldo COL
Igor Kunitsyn RUS v Q Igor Sijsling NED
Q Martin Fischer AUT v LL Simone Bolelli ITA
Potito Starace ITA v Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (14)

Richard Gasquet is quietly climbing back up the rankings with considerable vitesse, and could make a lot of noise here at his favorite slam.  That rare battle of Igors should be pretty tight, with Sijsling having the bigger weapons but with Kunitsyn being the far smarter player.  Wawrinka should make it through to the third round with considerable ease, and his match with Gasquet could be a classic, as the two fight to see which one of them gets the chance to lose to Andy Murray at Wimbledon in five sets for the second time.  I'll pick Wawrinka, for being the better fighter of the two.  Predicted Round of 16er: Stanislas Wawrinka

Gael Monfils FRA (9) v Matthias Bachinger GER
LL Grega Zemlja SLO v Q Lukas Lacko SVK
WC Arnaud Clement FRA v Q Lukasz Kubot POL
Ivo Karlovic CRO v Janko Tipsarevic SRB (23)

The two biggest threats to make it out of this section (Karlovic and Tipsarevic) play each other in the first round, in what should be a fun match if you like your tennis frustrating.  Monfils has never given his best effort to grass, but it's hard to figure out if he is capable of losing to one of the players he plays early on.  I'll say he goes out to Lacko, and that Karlovic upsets Tipsarevic and makes it into the second week of Wimbledon for the second time in three years. Predicted Round of 16er: Ivo Karlovic

Thomaz Bellucci BRA (30) v Rainer Schuettler GER
Feliciano Lopez ESP v Michael Berrer GER
Jaroslav Pospisil CZE v Victor Hanescu ROU
Q Andreas Beck GER v Andy Roddick USA (8)

Andy Roddick had a horribly disappointing end to his Wimbledon run last year, inexplicably losing to Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu in five sets.  It's tough to see his Wimbledon crashing down on him in this first week, though Feliciano Lopez is a grueling opponent on grass.  I like Lopez to make it through Bellucci, but Roddick should be able to book a spot in the second week relatively routinely.  Predicted Round of 16er: Andy Roddick