Tomas Berdych(credit:
Shutterbug)
Tomas Berdych meets 12th seed Nikolay Davydenko in Wimbledon's third round, and Berdych stands a great chance of providing an upset.
The draw is open for Berdych here as Davydenko is a terrible Wimbledon player who is only in the third round by virtue of an incredibly fortunate draw against early round no-names.
Davydenko has been the victim of numerous upsets on the grass courts over the years. This is his eighth showing at Wimbledon and only the third time that he has managed to elude first round elimination. He has fallen in the early rounds of Wimbledon, even in years when he has done very well at the other Grand Slams.
Berdych is a solid grass court player who has been to the quarterfinals here in 2007 and he has not gone out early since his first showing here in 2004.
Berdych's record at Wimbledon is a solid 13-5 and bookmakers are predicting Berdych will win this match, even though he is the lower seed.
Bet365 offers even odds on Davydenko while Berdych is an inviting 50/69.
However, calling Berdych to win this match has one huge hang up that keeps it from being straight forward: Berdych, despite being a superior player historically at the Wimbledon championships, has never beaten Davydenko despite numerous attempts.
They have met up 8 times, all since 2005, and Berdych has fallen each time. In fact, in those 8 matches Berdych has only won 4 sets.
Berdych and Davydenko have never played on grass though so perhaps it is best to just view this as a first time matchup.
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