Day Four Preview

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By Barry Newcombe

Andy Roddick v Alex Bogdanovic
Played--never previously met

Alex Bogdanovic is the last British player still in the field and can rightly claim that he has justified his wild card entry into the Artois Championships. It has given him a recognisably difficult task against the second seed and three times former champion Andy Roddick but there is no question that Bogdanovic relishes the prospect. He has already played Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on the circuit and this first meeting with Roddick sets him another serious test. Roddick, twice runner up at Wimbledon, was a first round loser at the French Open and is trying to ensure that his work on grass will pay dividends. He has the former world No 1 Jimmy Connors as his coach and says candidly: "It's just nice having someone around who understands, playing deep into Grand Slams, kind of what we're shooting for. Anything that I'm going to go through on a tennis court, he's probably been through that and then some. So that's a comforting thought." Bogdanovic will be hoping to take his game up another notch and see what situations he can influence after that. "I am going to have to play some great tennis if I want to stand a chance," says Bogdanovic.

Verdict-Roddick in command

Rafael Nadal v Max Mirnyi
Played-Nadal leads 1-0

Rafael Nadal passed his first examination in the Artois Championships without serious problems and will now feel all the stronger for what promises to be a demanding match against the so called Beast of Belarus, 6ft 5ins Max Mirnyi. They play for the first time on grass which Mirnyi must count as one of his favourite surfaces especially when he looks back on last year when he was in the third round at the Artois and the fourth round at Wimbledon. Nadal arrived at Queen's Club on Monday after winning the French Open for the third time the previous day and saying of his condition: "I wanted to move and I can't move. I can't do anything. "By yesterday, he admitted, he was back on track and his victory over the Argentine Juan Martin del Potro underlined that. Now it is a question of staying focused to try to take this title and then head on for Wimbledon where he was runner up last year. Mirnyi, who reaches his 30th birthday next month, is having an impressive tournament and will enjoy the prospect of taking on the world No 2.

Verdict-Nadal to continue to build

Novak Djokovic v Arnaud Clement
Played-Djokovic leads 1-0

For the second day running Novak Djokovic, the 20-year-old from Serbia, is on the Centre Court in the Artois Championships. Fourth seeded Djokovic takes on the world No 43 Arnaud Clement of France in their first match on grass. Their only previous meeting was on clay in Bucharest in 2004 when Djokovic won in three sets. Since then Djokovic has moved on at pace with a rise of more than 180 places in the rankings and that includes a significant grass court run last year when he was in the fourth round at Wimbledon where he lost to the Croatian Mario Ancic. Last Friday Rafael Nadal beat him in the semi-finals of the French Open. Clement is currently tenth in the world but has been higher in previous years and has won four titles, two of them last year which left him inside the top 50. He has played in ten Wimbledon championships and most definitely knows his way around on grass. He was a finalist at the Australian Open in 2001 when his victims included Roger Federer, Greg Rusedski, and Yevgeny Kafelnikov as well as countryman Sebastien Grosjean. Only Andre Agassi was able to halt him.

Verdict: Djokovic to take charge

Robby Ginepri v Fernando Gonzalez
Played-Gonzalez leads 1-0

Fernando Gonzalez, Chile's top player, is third seed for the title at the Artois Championships. He was a quarter finalist here last year when Andy Roddick defeated him and he reached the third round at Wimbledon. He was tenth in the world at the end of 2006 and achieved that without winning a title. Andy Murray beat him at US Open. In 2005 he became the first Chilean since Ricardo Acuna to reach the Wimbledon quarter finals. Ginepri, who lives in Georgia and was born in Florida, did not start playing tennis seriously until he was 12--which would be considered very late these days-but has been ranked as high as 17th in the world in 2005. He comes into this tournament at 45th in the world and his best Grand Slam performances have been at the US Open in 2005 when he was a semi-finalist and Wimbledon the previous year when he lost to Sebastien Grosjean in the fourth round.

Verdict-Gonzalez to progress

Joe-Wilfried Tsonga v Marin Cilic
Played-Tsonga leads 2-0

This match brings together two of the surprise winners so far in the Artois Championships--Tsonga of France who put out former champion Lleyton Hewitt and Cilic of Croatia who beat Britain's Tim Henman. Cilic was a wild card into the draw while Tsonga came through the qualifying tournament, something he will face again next week if he wants to play at Wimbledon. Tsonga has the stronger record on grass because he started playing on the surface at the junior event at Wimbledon four years ago when he reached the semi-finals. He won two grass court events in 2004 when in his first appearance in the Nottingham Challenger he beat Andy Murray. He is in a fine streak of form and two wins at Challenger level over Cilic help his confidence for the demands he has never faced before. Cilic, 18, was the top junior in the world last year and with so many good Croatians on the tour does not lack for advice and encouragement. Verdict--Tsonga to keep on the roll

Jaroslav Levinsky and David Skoch v Alex Bogdanovic and Marat Safin
Played--never previously met

Safin was at 4-all in the final set of his singles match against Sebastien Grosjean when rain halted play last night so will continue in that engagement today before facing this second round doubles against the Czech pair. Levinsky has won three doubles titles. Bogdanovic also has singles to concentrate on before trying to cement quarter final place with his Russian partner.

Verdict-a good chance for Bogdanovic to add another victory