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Former world No.1 and Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic will be looking to continue building confidence and form in the third round as he takes on Ernests Gulbis who qualified on a protected ranking. Join The Roar for live scores from around 11:30pm (AEST).
This could be a very one-sided match. On one side, you have one of the best ever starting to regather his touch and confidence. Djokovic has struggled in 2017, but since the end of the French Open he has begun to hit the ball a lot better.
Even though it’ll be difficult to get a real read on the former champion until later in the tournament, you can only play what’s in front of you and he has done a good job at that so far.
After Martin Klizan retired him early in the first round, he took on clay court specialist Adam Pavlasek in the second and took victory 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in a dominating performance.
Gulbis, on the other hand, is ranked outside the top 500 in the world and made Wimbledon with a protected ranking after a run of injuries.
He played just one tournament – one on clay at that – in the lead-up to Wimbledon after a first round French Open exit.
Even on clay, Gulbis was struggling for form as he got knocked out in the second round of a Challenger event. That’s simply not good enough and with no grass court preparation, it makes you question how he got to the third round.
Having won under 50 per cent of grass court matches throughout his career, beating Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round is one of the biggest of his career.
He is yet to drop a set at Wimbledon after beating Victor Estrella Burgos in the first round and clearing the Argentinian in the second.
The pair have played on seven occasions, but never on grass and not since 2015. Djokovic leads the ledger six matches to one.
Prediction
Djokovic will cruise through this. Gulbis simply doesn’t have the talent to go with a player of Djokovic’s class on any surface, let alone his least favourite.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from around 11:30pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.