Wimbledon 2012: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

On Wednesday, we will see the men's singles at Wimbledon reach the quarterfinals.

So who's likely to make it through to Friday's semifinals?

The top half of the draw sees No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic take on the German, Florian Mayer.

28-year-old Mayer reached a career-high world ranking of No. 18 a year ago, and is seeded No. 31 for the championships.

He beat both Philipp Petzschner and Jerzy Janowicz in five sets before reaching the fourth round, where he enjoyed a four-set victory over the No. 18 seed, Richard Gasquet.

Djokovic is the defending champion and world No. 1. 

In their only previous meeting at the 2011 Dubai event, Nole won in straight sets.

Florian Mayer has no chance whatsoever of making it to the semifinals.

A Potential Upset on the Cards?

The top half of the draw's other quarterfinal sees Roger Federer take on world No. 33 Mikhail Youzhny.

Federer played brilliantly in the first two rounds but then almost came unstuck against Julien Benneteau in the third.

Within two points of an early exit against the Frenchman, Federer somehow recovered and  later defeated Xavier Malisse in four sets to reach the quarterfinals.

Against Malisse though, Federer was forced to call for the trainer to ease his aching back - something the six-time champion has never had to do.

Youzhny is a former world No. 8. The 30-year-old Russian needed five sets in the previous round to dispatch Denis Istomin, but he is enjoying his best run at Wimbledon.

Federer holds a 13-0 winning record over Youzhny, including a 6-1, 6-4 win in the semifinals of last month's grass court event at Halle. And in the fourth round of Wimbledon 2011, the Swiss beat the Russian in four tough sets.

Providing he returns to his previous good form and has recovered from his back injury, I'd expect Fed to emerge the winner and face the Serbinator in the next round.  

Murray Versus Ferrer

If you'd told Andy Murray before the Wimbledon draw was made that he'd have to overcome David Ferrer in the quarterfinals to play the winner of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semifinals, you might even have brought a smile to the face of the dour Scotsman.

Ferrer is a truly brilliant player. The 30-year-old actually seems to be improving the older he gets.

But he's not as good on grass as Andy Murray.

Of course, this will be a tough match. Their head-to-head record stands at five wins each.

Ferrer came through surprisingly easily against many people's favourite, Juan Martin del Potro, in the fourth round—the Spaniard winning without losing a set.

But this is Murray's big chance.

With Nadal out of the picture and a packed 15,000 centre court crowd behind him, surely he won't disappoint the great British public once again.  

With Rafa Out, Expect the Frenchman to Prevail

Rafael Nadal's second-round defeat to Lukas Rosol was one of the greatest upsets in recent Wimbledon history.

Of course, as the world No.100, Rosol couldn't possibly have maintained that level, and in the next round, promptly crashed out in straight sets to the German, Philipp Kohlschreiber.

The No. 27 seed then beat Brian Baker to reach the quarterfinals, where he'll face one of the most dangerous and unpredictable players in the modern game— Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The Frenchman holds a 5-1 winning record over Kohlschreiber.

Tsonga is a much better and more experienced player at this level than Kohlschreiber, and it's almost unimaginable that he won't make it through to the semifinal.

The Winner Stands Alone

So, for me, it'll be Djokovic against Federer, and Murray against Ferrer in Friday's semifinals.

As for who's likely to be in the final, I go for Djokovic against Murray with the Serb to win.

It should be interesting.