Wimbledon 2015: Friday Schedule and Predictions for All England Club Bracket

The early stages of Wimbledon are over, and as the tournament reaches the third round, the intensity and the excitement tend to ratchet up.

Favorites get pushed harder and legitimate underdogs make more news with a win at this point in the event. 

It becomes less about the color and history of Wimbledon at this point and more about the high-level competition.

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams will both be in action Friday, and we will look at their matches as well as two others and offer predictions.

The full schedule can be viewed here.

Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Bernard Tomic

Novak Djokovic is here to defend his title and is off to a sharp start with two straight-sets victories in the first two rounds.

Bernard Tomic needed five sets to survive Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round and had a tight three-set win over Pierre Hugues-Herbert in the second round. Tomic won the first and third sets in tiebreakers, and he only broke Hugues-Herbert once in the match and that was in the second set.

Once was enough because Tomic did not allow his opponent to break serve at all. Tomic does not have a huge serve, but he does a good job of placing it and keeping his opponent off balance.

That may have worked in the first two rounds, but he is going to have to be a lot better against Djokovic if he is to have a chance to pull off a shocking upset. 

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Novak Djokovic’s #Wimbledon so far in numbers…. pic.twitter.com/zbxCyN6Qkv

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 2, 2015"

Djokovic is the top-ranked player in the world, and he pummeled Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-4, 6-2 6-3 in the second round. Djokovic's excellence and athleticism can be seen in the number of points he wins on his second serve and his receiving stats. Djokovic won 17-of-23 points on his second serve, and he also took 45 percent of the points that Nieminen served.

On the other hand, Nieminen won just 12-of-28 points on his second serve and 23 percent while receiving Djokovic's service points.

Tomic has a well-rounded game and is quite talented. However, he just does not have enough in the arsenal to stay with Djokovic.

Prediction: Djokovic, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Serena Williams (1) vs. Heather Watson

Five-time champion Serena Williams has regularly been a slow starter in recent events, but she was on top of her game in the second round against Timea Babos when she rolled to a dominating 6-4, 6-1 win.

She will no doubt get a challenge from Heather Watson, who has gotten past the second round in a major for only the third time in her career. Watson, who hails from Guernsey in the Channel Islands off England's south coast, is sure to have the home crowd on her side.

Watson is unseeded and the 59th-ranked player in the world, but she is coming off a 6-4, 6-2 straight-sets victory over Daniela Hantuchova on Wednesday. Watson was dominant on Hantuchova's second serve, winning 15 of 19 points.

She served fairly effectively with five aces and coming out ahead 76 percent of the time when she got her first serve in, but it will be difficult for her to compete with Williams.

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Serena Williams has won 23 straight Grand Slam matches (last loss: 3rd round of Wimbledon, 2014) Improves to 74-10 all-time at Wimbledon

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 1, 2015"

Serena is gunning for her fourth consecutive grand slam title, and it's very difficult to beat her here because she has the best serve and the best return in the game. 

Williams has lost just one match all year, and she is healthy and playing sharp tennis. Even when she starts slowly, as she did in several French Open matches, she turns it up another gear and usually wins comfortably.

Prediction: Williams 7-6 (7-4), 6-2

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

Maria Sharapova (4) vs. Irina-Camelia Begu (29)

Maria Sharapova would like nothing more than to get back to the finals and find a way to come up with her second Wimbledon championship.

After winning the tournament and taking her bows at Centre Court in 2004, Sharapova has been unsuccessful in 10 straight attempts at the All England Tennis Club.

She is off to a good start in the 2015 tournament, having registered back-to-back, one-sided victories in the first two rounds of the tournament. Sharapova defeated Johanna Konta 6-1, 6-3 in the first round and followed that up with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Richel Hogenkamp in the second round.

Sharapova gets it done with finesse and athleticism rather than power. She has just three aces in her first two matches.

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WATCH The scene is set for 2004 champion @MariaSharapova on No.2 Court #Wimbledon http://t.co/UtOleoLsL6

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 1, 2015"

Irina-Camelia Begu was tested in the second round, and she survived her three-set match with Lesia Tsurenko. Begu won 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, and now she gets a chance against one of the most celebrated players on the tour. 

This is the first time she has gotten beyond the second round at Wimbledon. Look for her to push Sharapova hard.

Prediction: Sharapova, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4

Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Stan Wawrinka (4) vs. Fernando Verdasco

Stan Wawrinka served notice on men's tennis when he beat Novak Djokovic in the men's final at the French Open. While most don't give him a legitimate chance to win on the grass surface at Wimbledon against Djokovic, Andy Murray or Roger Federer, Wawrinka is playing with confidence.

The 30-year-old Wawrinka has won his first two matches at Wimbledon in straight sets, and he has a chance to get to the fourth round for the first time since 2009. Wawrinka had been eliminated in the first or second round each of the previous four years.

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ICYMI, Wawrinka on the Big 4: "I don't have the same as them. I'm not as strong as them" Read: http://t.co/BvFB37jXKq pic.twitter.com/sWcADsWiph

— TENNIS.com (@Tennis) July 1, 2015 "

Fernando Verdasco is the 42nd-ranked player in the world, and the 32-year-old Spaniard has survived two five-set matches to get this far. Verdasco has a big first serve, having nailed 44 aces in his first two matches.

Prediction: Wawrinka, 5-7, 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 7-5, 6-4

Statistics courtesy of Wimbledon.com