Wednesday Preview

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By Barry Newcombe


Andy Roddick v Robby Ginepri
Played-Roddick leads 6-1

Andy Roddick has such an impressive record at the Artois Championships with four title wins in the past five years that he must be eager to start business today from the position of third seed. Roddick won last year after saving a match point against Nicolas Mahut of France in the two hours and 17 minutes final and opens up this time against his fellow American Robby Ginepri who comes into the tournament after reaching the last 16 in the French Open. It is their first meeting on grass.

"A-Rod" has twice been runner-up at Wimbledon and was defeated in the quarter-finals last year after leading Richard Gasquet by two sets to love. Ginepri was in the third round here last year and has plenty of experience on grass.

Verdict—Roddick to celebrate his return

Rafal Nadal v Jonas Bjorkman
Played-never previously met

Rafael Nadal is entitled to feel a degree of concern about the Swede Jonas Bjorkman, his first opponent in the Artois Championships because he is one of the most experienced players in the world at the age of 36. He has maintained a position within the top 75 in the world for 14 years and his singles ranking is now 102nd. He came into this tournament as a wild card and will relish the opportunity to take on Nadal as his first singles opponent since the Spaniard won the French Open for the fourth time on Sunday.

Bjorkman is a doubles specialist with nine Grand Slam titles and was a singles semi-finalist at Wimbledon only two years ago, losing to Roger Federer. For Nadal, after his great deeds on clay, the task now is to ready himself for the challenge of grass.

Verdict—Nadal to find his feet in his first test

Novak Djokovic v Roko Karanusic
Played—never previously met

Novak Djokovic is the third man at the top of the world game, falling in behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the rankings. As the youngest player in the top ten at the end of last year Djokovic came hunting hard at the start of this year and had the immediate reward of his first Grand Slam title in the Australian Open. He turned 21 last month and begins here after being beaten by Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the French Open.

Djokovic, second seed here, was champion in Masters events in Indian Wells and Rome and has been busily piling on the pressure of players above and below him. He opens today against Roko Karanusic from Zagreb, ranked 112th in the world. A year ago Djokovic was fourth seed here but was beaten in his second match by Arnaud Clement of France, an eventual semi-finalist.

Verdict—Djokovic to open in style

David Nalbandian v Viktor Troicki
Played—never previously met

David Nalbandian comes from the big dry heat city of Cordoba in Argentina and created a storm of his own when he reached the Wimbledon final in 2002 in his first tournament on grass. He did not make his Centre Court debut until the final, against Lleyton Hewitt, and then won just six games. He has been in the year-end top ten for five years running and is fourth seed for the Artois title with an opening match against 22-year-old Viktor Troicki from Belgrade.

Nalbandian has never matched his Wimbledon feat in Grand Slam terms but has captured seven titles elsewhere. He was in the Argentine team which beat Great Britain in the Davis Cup in Buenos Aires in February. Troicki ranks 100th in the world and comes to Queen’s Club having been beaten in the first round of French Open.

Verdict-Nalbandian to show his class

Xavier Malisse v Lleyton Hewitt
Played-Hewitt leads 4-1

Two of the four victories which Lleyton Hewitt has gained over Xavier Malisse were in the Artois Championships, the second of them in 2005 when Hewitt won a close three set match. They have not played since and here we have the case of the world's 30th ranked player taking on Malisse, who was not only wild carded into this tournament but has been offered a card into Wimbledon as well. For someone who ranks 239th in the world this is an exciting time and he will want to justify the opportunities which have come his way.

Hewitt has been champion here four times, loves the courts, loves Grand Slam tennis (he has played 39 championships), and will already have Wimbledon firmly in mind. For a year now he has been coached by Tony Roche, the left hander who hit the road from a small town called Tarcutta in New South Wales in the sixties and is still travelling.

Verdict-Hewitt to head for the third round

Richard Gasquet v Simone Bolelli
Played-Gasquet leads 1-0

Richard Gasquet, who turns 22 next week, carried the label of France's outstanding teenager for a number of years and more than justified what had been expected of him by reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year after beating Andy Roddick and then losing to Roger Federer. He ended the year in the top ten for the first time and is fifth seed at the Artois Championships. French-born Swiss based Gasquet beat Simone Bolelli in straight sets in their only previous match in Marseille his year. He played the Australian Open, reaching the fourth round, but missed the French Open. Bolelli, 22, came into the second round when the Canadian Frank Dancevic withdrew with a wrist injury after four games of their first round match.

Verdict-Gasquet to gain command