2013 Wimbledon: Players Picking Up Steam at All England Club

Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams aren't the only contenders playing stellar tennis heading into the third round at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships this weekend.

2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro has seen his chances improve considerably with both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal suffering upset losses in the first three days of the tournament. With a win Saturday, Delpo would be through to the round of 16 at SW19 for the third straight year. 

Like Delpo, some other outside contenders are picking up steam at the right time.

Below, we'll highlight a trio of outside threats who are coming on strong at the All England Club.

Dominika Cibulkova (18)

Eighteenth-seeded female Dominika Cibulkova is off to an excellent start at Wimbledon and looked nearly flawless in her straight-sets win in the second round Thursday.

The former Wimbledon quarterfinalist dropped just one game and won 94 percent of her first-serve points in her match against Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor.

She only needed 13 winners to advance and now has 56 for the tournament. 

Next up for the 24-year-old Slovak is 11th-seeded Roberta Vinci, who reached the fourth round at the All England Club a year ago. But at age 30, the doubles specialist should be in over her head against Cibulkova, who is seeing and striking the ball effortlessly heading into this weekend's matchup.

Juan Martin del Potro (8)

The 2009 U.S. Open champion have never been able to play his best tennis on grass, but you wouldn't know that by watching him at Wimbledon this summer.

After skipping the 2013 French Open to recover from a respiratory virus, del Potro has looked strong at the All England Club, winning both his first- and second-round matches in straight sets to pick up some much-needed confidence, via Wimbledon:

Even more impressive, Delpo is winning 78 percent of his first-serve points and has 71 total winners to just 23 total unforced errors.

The 24-year-old has never been past the round of 16 at Wimbledon, but with a win Saturday he can get back to the round of 16 for the third straight year. There, he would have an excellent shot to reach the quarterfinals as the second highest seed remaining in David Ferrer's quarter of the draw.

Marion Bartoli (15)

Following a disappointing early exit from the French Open earlier this summer, Marion Bartoli has come out strong at Wimbledon, winning all four of her sets to reach the third round.

The 15th-seeded Frenchwoman is playing an aggressive style, evidenced by her 52 winners and 42 unforced errors through the first two rounds and is playing solid all-around tennis, having won eight return games thus far.

Bartoli will play unseeded Italian Camila Giorgi in the next round in a showdown she will be favored to win.

Giorgi needed two tiebreaks to beat Sorana Cirstea in the second round, so expect Bartoli, who reached the Wimbledon final back in 2007, to give her plenty of problems and ultimately pull out a win, advancing to the round of 16 for the third time in four years.

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