Stanislas Wawrinka may face more round of 16 heartache

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After a Wimbledon-less Sunday, things get very exciting today as every single man and woman left in the single’s tournaments will be in action. Here are three stats about each of what we consider today’s four main matches:

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Andy Murray v Stanislas Wawrinka
» Murray has a 4-3 head-to-head record against Wawrinka and has won four of their last five clashes. They have never met on grass.
» The world number three has won all three of the duo’s meetings at the round of 16. Wawrinka has exited five of his last eight tournaments at that stage, with four of those losses coming against players ranked in the top five.
» The Swiss 24-year-old hasn’t reached the last eight of a Grand Slam in 17 career attempts, whereas Murray has done so in three of his last four.

Robin Soderling v Roger Federer
» Soderling and Federer have met ten times and the world number two has

Posted: June 29th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Serena and Venus bid to win their eighth title in ten years

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Photo Credit: Fiona Hanson/PA Wire

Between them, the Williams sisters have won seven of the last nine ladies’ singles titles at Wimbledon, reaching the final a further four times and winning the ladies’ doubles three times for good measure. With Maria Sharapova already out and Dinara Safina fresh from bottling yet another Grand Slam final at Roland Garros last month, it looks like they could be left fighting each other again. Here’s a look at the five favourites in the betting:

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Serena Williams
Serena is the most successful active women’s tennis player with ten Grand Slams but she hasn’t won Wimbledon since 2003, a Grand Slam drought only topped by her seven year (and counting) wait for a second French Open title. The woman named second seed has only won Wimbledon twice in the last 16 years but they were on both of the occasions that a Williams sister held that position - Venus in 2001 and Serena in 2002. There have been just five occasions in the Open Era where the losing lady has come back to win the following year and the last to do so was Jana Novotna 11 years ago.

Venus Williams
Venus has dominated Wimbledon this decade, reaching seven finals and winning five - including three of the last four - but has a fair way to go before rivalling Martina Navratilova (nine) and Steffi Graf (seven) as SW19’s greatest Open Era champion. She hasn’t been in great form recently, winning

Posted: June 25th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Reigning champion 129/1, constant underachiever 2/1

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The unpredictability of the US Masters is highlighted by the fact last year’s winner Trevor Immelman is 129/1 on Betfair whereas Tiger Woods, who is returning from a serious injury and hasn’t won at Augusta since 2005, is as short as 2/1 with Paddy Power.

» The last two winners - Zach Johnson and Trevor Immelman - were both available at 100/1 or bigger prior to the event.

» There hasn’t been a European winner since Jose Maria Olazabal in 1999 while the last British winner was Nick Faldo in 1996.

» 55 of the last 72 winners have been American but on three of the last four occasions where the crown has been wrestled away from them, as happened with Immelman last year, they have failed to retain it the following year.

Posted: April 13th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment