Wimbledon 2015: News and Notes Ahead of Men's Quarterfinals

The 2015 Wimbledon men's quarterfinals are set to begin on Wednesday morning with each of the top four seeds—No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 3 Andy Murray and No. 4 Stan Wawrinka—hoping to advance to the semifinals. 

Djokovic takes on No. 9 Marin Cilic at 8 a.m. ET on Centre Court, Federer will match up against No. 12 Gilles Simon at 8 a.m. ET on Court 1, Murray faces Vasek Pospisil at 10:30 a.m. ET on Centre Court and Wawrinka goes up against No. 21 Richard Gasquet at 10:30 a.m. ET on Court 1.

It will be interesting to see if any of the high seeds suffer an upset defeat in what should be an action-packed morning of matches.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

After finding himself in some early trouble in the fourth round, dropping the first two sets to Kevin Anderson, Djokovic gathered himself to come back and win the match. Cilic, meanwhile, defeated American Denis Kudla in four sets. 

The results in those fourth-round matches set the stage for what will be the 13th time Djocovic and Cilic meet head-to-head.

Cilic better hope Wednesday's matchup goes differently than the first 12:

Adjusting his approach to counter Djokovic's style of play helped Cilic get ahead on him in last year's tournament.

Cilic said he needs to do that for the duration of the match this time around, according to AllSports.com.gh:

"

In the game where Novak is playing at the speed that he's playing, of course, that's the speed that he's going to be better at, so I'm going to have to be more aggressive to play more risky tennis. Of course that leaves less margin for error, but that's the way I was playing last year. I think this would be the best opportunity for me to play full on.

"

Despite making things interesting a year ago, Cilic won't be able to effectively sustain that strategy for the entirety of Wednesday's match, and Djokovic will continue his pursuit of his third Wimbledon singles title.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Unlike Djokovic, Federer isn't undefeated against his next opponent, though he has enjoyed mostly success.

Of his seven matches against Simon, Federer has won five. The thing to keep in mind is that Simon won their first two matches way back in 2008, while Federer has taken the last five.

Moreover, this will be the first time the two meet on grass, where Federer's most comfortable, something he reiterated at Gerry Weber Stadion this year:

"We often had some close matches with Roger," Simon said, per Hannah Wilks of LiveTennis.com. "Still he [destroyed] me once, so I'm ready that it can be sometimes difficult to face him, but one more time I just feel good and i just want to play it." 

Simon is coming off an impressive three-set sweep of Tomas Berdych—who lost in the 2010 Wimbledon final—in the fourth round, but it would be a surprise to see him beat Federer for the first time in seven years.

Murray and Pospisil have both reached this point in the tournament, but there's no question who has exerted more effort in the process.

Check out this graphic, courtesy of Mark Masters of TSN:

Murray has a 3-0 career record against Pospisil, but just in case he needs it, his brother has some insight on how to beat the Canadian.

Jamie Murray and John Peers defeated Pospisil and his partner, Jack Sock, in a doubles match on Monday. 

"He's got a lot of game he can hurt Andy with [but] over five sets it's going to be difficult for him," Jamie Murray said, per Nic Atkin of ESPN.com, "especially with the amount of tennis he's played in the last few days."

Jamie is right. Not only is Murray more well rested going into the match, but he's the better player. The end of Pospisil's feel-good story will be written on Wednesday.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Wawrinka has cruised through the first four rounds at Wimbledon, reaching the quarterfinals for the second time in his career.

He hasn't dropped a set in matches against Joao Sousa, Victor Estrella Burgos, Fernando Verdasco and David Goffin.  

With a win over Gasquet, Wawrinka will reach the semifinals at Wimbledon, something he's never done before.

Gasquet has reached the semifinals at Wimbledon before, but that was way back in 2006. However, since then he hasn't even reached the quarterfinals up until now. 

They have split their only two meetings, with Gasquet winning at the Paris Masters in 2006 and Wawrinka winning a five-set thriller at the French Open in 2013.

Both are known for their sound backhands, which will be on display in Wednesday's match:

Since Wawrinka hasn't faced the toughest of competition so far in the tournament, he may struggle with Gasquet early on, but he'll eventually find his groove and dictate the pace of the match, much like he has through the first four rounds.

Come Wednesday afternoon, the semifinal schedule will be set—consisting of the top seeds—as the favorites will prevail in the quarterfinals.