Match Previews / Sean Calvert / 25 June 2008 / 1 Comments

Betting.betfair.com regular tennis columnist Sean Calvert is the man in the hot seat today keeping us up to date with all the scores, news and betting from Wimbledon. If you have any questions or comments e-mail him at sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk.

Welcome to Day 3 at SW19 and it looks like another cracking day's entertainment looms, both weather-wise and hopefully in terms of some profitable betting.

First up on Centre at 1 o'clock will be the match of the day on paper - Novak Djokovic v Marat Safin.

Ana Ivanovic, Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt will all be in action today as the second round begins.

As far as betting is concerned today, I like the look of Stanislas Wawrinka at [1.67] to take out Juan Martin Del Potro.

That match begins in a few moments time on Court 11 and I'll be keeping a close eye on that one!

Lay of the day for me would have to be either Federer at [1.02] against the dangerous Robin Soderling or David Ferrer at [1.29] against nemesis Igor Andreev.

Email me your bankers for the day and why at sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

Off to Court 11 first then and the early stages of Wawrinka v Del Potro.

The Swiss has had a great year, while the lanky Argentine has struggled in 2008 and although grass is far from Wawrinka's preferred surface, he should have too much class for Del Potro.

It's Wawrinka to serve first.. here we go then on Day 3.

You would think that Stan would be a decent grass court player - he has a great volley in addition to some heavy groundstrokes, but his movement looks particularly unnatural on grass.

Hopefully he'll get used to it quite quickly and he's held serve in the first game.

He's always had a great backhand has Wawrinka.. it's a shot to rival some of the best in the game, such as Gasquet and Federer.

Del Potro levels at 1-1, but the Swiss has just boomed the first of those rapier-like backhands past a flailing Del Potro. Keep it up Stan!

Over on Court 2, British hope Elena Baltacha is down 0-3 early on to China's Jie Zheng and on Court 18, Frank Dancevic, conqueror of David Nalbandian, has opened up an early 3-1 lead against Bobby Reynolds.

Wawrinka holds with a bit of difficulty and has drifted to [1.8]

Del Potro, who's sporting a Federer-like bright white headband this afternoon booms one of his big serves down to level things at 2-2 and the match is trading at more or less dead level [1.95] each.

Stan hits back with a couple of aces of his own and moves ahead again at 3-2.

Punters don't fancy Baltacha's chances much - she's out to [6.0] and 4-1 down on Court 2

Wawrinka is taking no chances with the British weather and smeared himself liberally with zinc cream to contend with the cloudy conditions at SW19.

Meanwhile, over on Court 3, Nicole Vaidisova, whose slump in form recently surely has nothing whatsoever to do with waking up next to Radek Stepanek each morning, looks like taking the first set against Aussie Sam Stosur - she's 5-2 up.

Del Potro nets a simple forehand and hands Wawrinka a break point, which he takes thanks to another loose forehand from the Argentine and the Swiss breaks for a 4-2 lead.

This is good start to the day's wagers!

Typical! Wawrinka nets a tricky volley and Del Potro breaks back straight away to get back to 3-4 and the Swiss drifts to [1.75].

Baltacha lost that first set by 6-2 in the end and Vaidisova served out to take the first set of her match by the same margin.

I seem to remember Wawrinka costing me big time in a match against JC Ferrero last season and hopefully he'll put things right today.

On the subject of disappointing losses, I've had a few shocking bad luck stories recently.

The most galling of these was in the World Darts final a few months back, when I backed John Part to win by 7-1 and he was 6-1 up and missed a double 16 by about a millimetre.

I was quite relaxed, as the opponent (some young lad from Kent) was way back on 160 and throwing like a dog, so of course he strolls up to the oche and pops in a two maximums and a double top checkout to take the set and Part goes on to win 7-2.

Anybody beat that for misfortune? email them through at sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

Meanwhile, Del Potro has a nose-bleed and there seems to a be a minor delay on Court 11.

Del Potro has managed to stuff half a tissue up his nose and has finally emerged from his stool to serve to stay in the first set at 4-5.

It seems to have done the trick and the big man holds serve to level again and the prices are now [1.8] Wawrinka and [2.2] Del Potro.

What have we on Court 2? A British fightback in the form of Elena Baltacha a break up on Jie Zheng in the second set.

She's come in to [4.0], while Sam Stosur is also on the comeback trail against Vaidisova - the Aussie is 3-0 up in their second set.

Wawrinka holds off a break point with a big serve and nudges ahead at 6-5.

There should be time to see the completion of the set before Djokovic v Safin begins in a few minutes.

Del Potro has the trainer on to deal with that troublesome nose during the changeover, but this game at 5-6 is proving a tricky one, despite some big serving and the shouts of annoyance from Stan.

I have seen Stan lose it big time before - the US Open last year springs to mind when he went through a good half a dozen racquets.

One match against Juan Ignacio Chela was particularly memorable and after missing a backhand down the line, the racquet took the full force again at deuce against Del Potro.

Del Potro holds after four deuces and forces a breaker in which Wawrinka takes an early lead at 2-0.

A delightful cross court backhand gives Stan a 4-1 lead, but Del Potro pulls it back to 4-2 at the changeover.

Wawrinka mutters away in what I presume to be Polish as an ace bullets past him from Del Potro, but he fires one back straight away to set up set points at 6-3.

Del Potro holds his serves, but another ace from Wawrinka gives him the set and we're off to Centre to take in Djokovic v Safin, as Wawrinka comes in to [1.35].

It's 2-1 on serve to Djokovic in the early stages of a match where the Serb is looking for his first ever win over the Russian.

Safin beat Djokovic in the first round of the Australian Open on his way to the title in 2005, but it's hard to see Safin defying odds of [11.0] to emerge victorious this time.

It's always interesting to watch Marat play, as you never quite know what you're going to get, but he's started quite well, while Djokovic isn't in top gear just yet.

Elena Baltacha couldn't quite keep up her efforts and went down in straight sets to Jie Zheng in the end (6-2, 7-5), so another Briton bites the dust.

Who's left now? Chris Eaton and Anne Keovathong isn't it, in addition to Murray?

It's a poor look-out and Fred Perry certainly wouldn't be happy about it!

Safin holds impressively for 2-2 and earns himself a break point at 30-40 in the next Djokovic service game and comes in to [7.0]

A double fault hands Safin the break and the Russian is now [5.8]. Could the Djokovic title bid be derailed by mighty Marat??

Number one women's seed Ana Ivanovic is cruising early on against Nathalie Dechy of France - she's 4-2 up and serving.

Three unforced errors and a clean winner give Djokovic the break back and we hear the first scream of discontent from Safin.

In response to my hard luck story from earlier, Portuguese Pirate from London says if the darts one was an unlucky bet, he had a very lucky one.

He backed "any unquoted" (either side to score 4 or more) at [5.2] when Portugal faced Iraq at the last Olympic Games expecting Portugal to thrash them.

Iraq ended up winning 4-2 with a last-minute fourth goal and he ended up getting paid out anyway!

You can't keep your eyes off this one!

Safin breaks back to love for the third consecutive break of serve in the opening set and leads 4-3, while coming in to [5.5].

Can he hold this time?

He can and Djokovic is serving to stay in the first set at 3-5 at [1.31].

Novak struggles, but hold he does and the world number three makes Safin serve it out for the first set.

Meanwhile, over on Court 11, Wawrinka is a break up in the second set against Del Potro and Ivanovic has let her lead slip in the first set and is back on serve at 5-4.

Ivanovic is still [1.04] though.

The centre court nerves strike as Safin frames a serve into Row Z and Djokovic had an easy passing chance to go two break points up, but he too mishits and Safin gets back to 30-30 and moves to set point.

Djokovic works the point well though to deny Safin and get to deuce.

Safin mishits to earn another set point and a big serve hands him the set and deservedly so based on the opening exchanges.

You can still get Safin at [4.1] if you reckon he can keep it up and prevail.

I clearly don't possess the kind of fortune that Portuguese Pirate has - I've just remembered another one and this is the same player twice.

The guilty party is one Daniele de Rossi, whom I backed at [16] for first goalscorer in the Man Utd v Roma Champions League match this season.

Roma get an early penalty and I was counting my cash as De Rossi stepped up to take it only to blaze over the crossbar.

I then backed Italy to beat Spain on penalties last week and De Rossi missed a crucial one again.

That man should never be allowed anywhere near a penalty spot!

Time for a quick lunch break, as Wawrinka goes two sets up against Del Potro.. is my luck changing?

Back with Djoko v Safin shortly.

Back just in time to see Safin serve to stay in the second set at 4-5 and he does it to love.

Ana Ivanovic lost that first set 7-6, but she's 3-1 up in the second set and she's currently at [1.16] in the betting.

Djokovic, whose serve seems to have improved a couple of notches since the first set, holds easily and Safin from 30-0 up makes a couple of poor unforced errors and digs himself out of potential difficulty at 30-30 with a big serve.

Djoko hits a forehand wide and we have a breaker in the second set with Djokovic at [1.45] and Safin at [3.1].

A couple of unforced errors from the Serb and some decent rallying from Safin create a lead for the Russian of 4-1 in the tie-break.

Could we have a big shock on the cards?

Djokovic argues with the umpire after a hawkeye challenge that proves unsuccessful for the world number three and then a Safin forehand down the line gives him a 6-1 lead.

We now have a new favourite with Safin at [1.75]

Marat is now into [65] for the tournament, while Djokovic has moved out to [14] to lift the trophy on July 6.

Can Safin hold on, or will we see another implosion from the temperamental Russian?

Meanwhile, Ana Ivanovic is still struggling with Nathalie Dechy - it's 4-4 in the second set.

A horrible service game from Djokovic hands Safin the break and things are looking grim for Novak as he is pushed out to [4.3].

We'll just go over to Court One where Ivanovic is serving to stay in the tournament against Dechy.

Over £200,000 was traded on Ivanovic at 1.02 but she's two points away from defeat here.

At match point down Ivanovic gets a huge slice of fortune as her forehand hits the net but dribbles over to keep her in the tournament.

She holds eventually and Virginia Wade is getting extremely excited in the commentary box at the possibility of a big upset.

It's 5-5 and 15-15 with Dechy serving.

Wawrinka ended up winning in straight sets, which is good news for my bank balance, but both Djokovic and Ivanovic are in terrible trouble in what could turn out to be a miserable day for Serbia.

Djoko is 4-1 down now and [7.6] to turn it around and [40] for the tournament.

Here on Court One, Dechy holds to guarantee at least a tie break and make Ivanovic serve to stay in the tournament again.

Ivanovic is [2.02] to win this now and [7] for the championship.

She holds to love and we're into a breaker.

Elsewhere, Lleyton Hewitt is two sets up against clay courter Albert Montanes, but another Spaniard, the number 21 seed JC Ferrero is two sets down against Mischa Zverev on Court 3.

Ivanovic makes a strong start to the breaker, but is pegged back to 2-2 by Dechy.

A double from the Frenchwoman hands the advantage back to the number one seed and she's 4-2 up at the change of ends and is now [1.38].

Meanwhile, Djokovic has saved a couple of match points against Safin, but another one's coming up!

Djokovic goes out!! A double fault hands the win to Marat Safin and quite remarkably, the Russian has won all six sets he's played against Djokovic.

It was a poor serving display from the Serbian and it will be interesting to see the stats on that.

So, the biggest shock so far in the tournament has happened and a certain Roger Federer probably has a slight smile on his countenance right about now.

Back to Court One next to see if Ivanovic can complete the comeback against Dechy.

The number one seed took the breaker comfortably while I was watching Djokovic go out and in the first game of the deciding set, the Serb is struggling with her serve and Dechy has a break point.

She holds on though and is back to [1.19] for the match.

If anyone has any thoughts on the Djokovic/Safin match, email them through to sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

Lleyton Hewitt has cruised through in straight sets against Albert Montanes and will next play the winner of Fernando Gonzalez v Simone Bolelli, which is on Court 18 at the moment and 5-5 in the first set.

We're still on serve in the Ivanovic game and she's [1.15] to complete the victory now.

Meanwhile, Safin's win over Djokovic has shaken up the men's outright market, with Federer now [1.8] from [2.25] to claim a sixth successive title.

Safin himself is now [44] having been matched at [1000].

Safin backers should take note that he has only once made it past the last 16 at SW19 and that was in 2001 when he lost to Goran Ivanisevic in the quarters.

Ana is still struggling to finish off Nathalie Dechy and the number one seed has just been broken again and it's now 3-4 with Dechy serving.

The prices are [1.3] Ivanovic and [4.1] Dechy.

We're being treated to the dulcet tones of Barry Davies, who I must admit thought had retired years ago and he's just been brought to his feet (metaphorically speaking) by a wonderful forehand down the line from Ivanovic.

Number One Court and Centre both have the new scoreboards in place this year and I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of the new-look screens.

Call me old fashioned, but I like the old Rolex scoreboards that look like they've been there since the dawn of time and evoke memories of J S Connors v J P McEnroe and the like.

What do people think about this? Am I stuck in the 80's and should embrace the changes? Or am I right to mourn the loss of the manual scoreboard? sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk is the place for your emails.

Back to the action and it's 5-5 on Court One as Nathalie Dechy is not going away easily.

This one's been going on for nearly three hours now and Ivanovic is now trading at [1.43] as confidence begins to fade that the number one seed can see this through.

There's a bit of controversy as Dechy thought she had won a point to put her 30-15 up on the Ivanovic serve, but the point was replayed because Dechy's cap fell off at the vital moment and the umpire much to the annoyance of the crowd called for the point to be played again.

Dechy's most unhappy about that call and must now serve to stay in after losing the game.

Virginia and Barry are arguing about it even as I write..

That call seemed to knock the fight out of Dechy, as a great winner down the line put Ivanovic within two points of victory.

A forehand down the line gives Ivanovic her first match point, which Dechy saves with the old one-two serve and forehand winner.

A long forehand from Dechy leads to another match point, which is again saved and an ace gives a rejuvenated Dechy the game and we're at 6-6.

Dechy hits a ball boy with a forehand return of serve that was a little way off the radar, but Ivanovic holds easily to go 7-6 in front and earn a quote of [1.23] for the match.

Elsewhere, Fernando Gonzalez is struggling against Simone Bolelli - the Chilean is a set and 6-5 down and [2.02] to make it through from a lowest match of [1.13], as Dechy holds comfortably for 7-7 on number one.

Wade is struggling for breath after a couple of hawkeye challenges got the crowd excited and I think the 1977 champ may need a couple of days off to recover after this one finally ends.

Another two comfortable holds brings us to 8-8 and the world number 97 just won't go away.

Ivanovic blitzes through another service game and this match looks sure to be one of the longest at Wimbledon for some time as we go into the fourth hour with the French Open champ at [1.26].

Just as I was looking up the longest Wimbledon matches in history, Ivanovic suddenly has three match points!

She takes the second of them for a 10-8 victory and exudes a shriek of delight as the forehand lands inside the line.

The Serbian kissed the part of the net that saved her when match point down on her way off court and she's back to [4.9] for the title.

Back to Centre then now and Roger Federer has come out wearing that ludicrous cream cardigan, which I suppose is a slight improvement on that ghastly jacket that he took to wearing over the last few years.

The Swiss and Robin Soderling are warming up and while they do so I can tell you that Fernando Gonzalez is two sets down now to Simone Bolelli - both breakers, which went to 10-8 and 9-7.

The Chilean is now [3.35] for a comeback.

By the way, the longest women's singles match was 3 hrs 45 mins - Chanda Rubin (U.S) beat Patricia Hy-Boulais (Canada) 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 17-15, in the second round, 1995.

So, now you know.

Federer is out of the blocks straight away with a hold to 15 and then a delightful lob followed by a double fault from Soderling gives the number one seed an early break at 2-0.

Gonzalez is making a comeback against Bolelli out on Court 18 - he's 5-3 up and serving for the set, having gone favourite at [1.79].

Federer is not in the mood to hang around - unlike the women's number one seed - as he goes 4-1 up in the blink of an eye.

Gonzalez has served out the set to get back into it against Bolelli and Serena Williams has just completed a straight sets victory over the younger of the Radwanska sisters and she'll play Amelie Mauresmo, should the former champ get past Virginia Ruano Pasqual.

That match is on Court 11 now with the number 29 seed 5-4 down with a break.

Elsewhere in the Ladies Singles, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Marion Bartoli, Elena Dementieva and Nicole Vaidisova are all through, as Federer claims the first set over Soderling 6-3.

It all looks pretty comfortable for Fed, so over to Court One we go to see if Marcos Baghdatis can return to form against Thomas Johansson.

Baggy is serving for the first set at 5-4 and is [1.1] for the match against the former Australian Open champ.

The Cypriot obliges and goes a set to the good, as Fernando Gonzalez goes a break up in the fourth set against Bolleli and is now [1.43].

Tommy J holds as Roger Federer earns another break of serve against Soderling on Centre to lead 2-1 in the second set.

Baghdatis is seeded surprisingly high at number 10 for the tournament after an injury hit year and his coach must be wincing at the amount of times Baghdatis has slipped over in this match so far.

The weather has held out again today and it must be some sort of record to have three consecutive days of unbroken play at the start of Wimbledon fortnight?

Baghdatis has broken again and it's hard to see Tommy J coming back from two sets down twice in a row after he managed it against Vinny Spadea in the first round.

Baghdatis is now [1.03] and there would have to be a huge turnaround for this one to go close, so a visit to Court 11 is in order, where Amelie Mauresmo is in a scrap with Virginia Ruano Pascual.

The Spaniard took the first set, but Mauresmo is 5-1 up in the second set and the former champ and number 29 seed is [1.45] to get through this one.

Mauresmo serves it out to the delight of the crowd, who are basking in the warm early evening sunshine on Court 11 and Mauresmo, who will be 29 on the day of the Ladies Singles final, moves into [1.33] to advance to the third round.

Fernando Gonzalez has lost his advantage in the fourth against Bolelli and they've started their third breaker of the match.

Surely Fernando will win this one!

Nope.. Gonzalez is out after losing a third breaker against Bolelli and the Chilean bows out of the tournament in the second round stage, which is disappointing as far as entertainment goes.

Gonzalez v Federer would have been an interesting fourth round, as would Hewitt v Gonzalez, but it's not to be and another Slam slips by for the number 15 seed.

Mauresmo is in complete control now at 3-0 with a double break, but how many times have we said that about her before and she's gone on to lose?!

As the afternoon draws to a close, my stint in the chair comes to an end, but it's been a great day's tennis, with a couple of very watchable matches between Djokovic and Safin and Ivanovic and Dechy and of course my bet of the day came in in the shape of Stan Wawrinka.

All-in-all a fine afternoon's sport and we'll be back tomorrow with more from Wimbledon.

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