Wimbledon 2016: Thursday Schedule and Predictions for London Bracket
Andy Murray, Garbine Muguruza and Venus Williams are all scheduled to grace the courts of the All England Club on Thursday at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships. Unfortunately, the keyword in that sentence is "scheduled" because rain has slowed the tournament's progress so far.
Extended weather delays throughout both Tuesday and Wednesday have left those waiting to play on the outside courts with limited windows of action. Alas, AccuWeather forecasts a continued chance for rain showers Thursday, which could lead to an even bigger logjam.
Let's check out the complete slate on tap for Day 4 if the weather finally cooperates. That's followed by a preview of some top matches as organizers try to get the tournament back on pace.
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Thursday's Singles Schedule
| - | Centre Court | - | - |
| G2 | (5) Kei Nishikori vs. Julien Benneteau | 8 a.m. | |
| G2 | (2) Andy Murray vs. Yen-Hsun Lu | Next | |
| L2 | (16) Johanna Konta vs. Eugenie Bouchard | Next | |
| - | No. 1 Court | - | - |
| G2 | (16) Gilles Simon vs. Grigor Dimitrov | 8 a.m. | Finish (1st set) |
| L2 | (2) Garbine Muguruza vs. Jana Cepelova | Next | |
| G2 | (8) Dominic Thiem vs. Jiri Vesely | Next | |
| - | No. 2 Court | - | - |
| G2 | (30) Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. Daniel Evans | 6 a.m. | Finish (1st set) |
| L2 | (5) Simona Halep vs. Francesca Schiavone | Next | |
| G2 | (19) Bernard Tomic vs. Radu Albot | Next | |
| L2 | (3) Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Ana Konjuh | Next | |
| - | No. 3 Court | - | - |
| L1 | (11) Timea Bacsinszky vs. Luksika Kumkhum | 6 a.m. | |
| G2 | (6) Milos Raonic vs. Andreas Seppi | Next | |
| L2 | (7) Belinda Bencic vs. Julia Boserup | Next | |
| - | Court 4 | - | - |
| G1 | Mikhail Youzhny vs. Horacio Zeballos | 6 a.m. | Finish (2nd set) |
| L2 | (20) Sara Errani vs. Alize Cornet | Next | |
| - | Court 5 | - | - |
| L1 | (18) Sloane Stephens vs. Shuai Peng | 6 a.m. | Finish (1st set) |
| G2 | Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs. Damir Dzumhur | Next | |
| L2 | (17) Elina Svitolina vs. Yaroslava Shvedova | Next | |
| L2 | (32) Andrea Petkovic vs. Elena Vesnina | Next | |
| - | Court 6 | - | - |
| G1 | Donald Young vs. Leonardo Mayer | 6 a.m. | Finish (4th set) |
| L2 | (26) Kiki Bertens vs. Mona Barthel | Next | |
| L2 | (29) Daria Kasatkina vs. Lara Arruabarrena | Next | |
| - | Court 7 | - | - |
| G2 | (28) Sam Querrey vs. Thomaz Bellucci | 6 a.m. | Finish (2nd set) |
| L2 | (9) Madison Keys vs. Kirsten Flipkens | Next | |
| L2 | (12) Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Denisa Allertova | Next | |
| G2 | (31) Joao Sousa vs. Dennis Novikov | Next | |
| - | Court 8 | - | - |
| G1 | (18) John Isner vs. Marcos Baghdatis | 6 a.m. | Finish (2nd set) |
| L2 | (11) David Goffin vs. Edouard Roger-Vasselin | Next | |
| G2 | (30) Caroline Garcia vs. Katerina Siniakova | Next | |
| - | Court 9 | - | - |
| L1 | Mandy Minella vs. Anna Tatishvili | 6 a.m. | Finish (1st set) |
| G2 | (23) Ivo Karlovic vs. Lukas Lacko | Next | |
| G2 | (14) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Mikhail Kukushkin | Next | |
| - | Court 10 | - | - |
| G1 | Albano Olivetti vs. Matthew Barton | 6 a.m. | Finish (5th set) |
| G2 | (27) Jack Sock vs. Robin Haase | Next | |
| L2 | (28) Lucie Safarova vs. Samantha Crawford | Next | |
| - | Court 11 | - | - |
| G1 | Fabio Fognini vs. Federico Delbonis | 6 a.m. | Finish (3rd set) |
| L2 | (15) Karolina Pliskova vs. Misaki Doi | Next | |
| L2 | Carina Witthoeft vs. Kurumi Nara | Next | |
| L2 | (6) Roberta Vinci vs. Ying-Ying Duan | Next | |
| - | Court 12 | - | - |
| L1 | Annika Beck vs. Heather Watson | 6 a.m. | Finish (3rd set) |
| G2 | (9) Marin Cilic vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky | Next | |
| G2 | (7) Richard Gasquet vs. Marcel Granollers | Next | |
| L2 | (27) Coco Vandeweghe vs. Timea Babos | Next | |
| - | Court 14 | - | - |
| L1 | (24) Barbora Strycova vs. Anett Kontaveit | 6 a.m. | Finish (1st set) |
| G2 | Andrey Kuznetsov vs. Gilles Muller | Next | |
| L2 | (22) Jelena Jankovic vs. Marina Erakovic | Next | |
| - | Court 15 | - | - |
| L1 | Monica Niculescu vs. Aleksandra Krunic | 6 a.m. | |
| G2 | Nicolas Almagro vs. Denis Istomin | Next | |
| - | Court 16 | - | - |
| L1 | Ekaterina Makarova vs. Johanna Larsson | 6 a.m. | |
| G2 | (13) David Ferrer vs. Nicolas Mahut | Next | Finish (1st set) |
| G2 | (26) Benoit Paire vs. John Millman | Next | |
| - | Court 17 | - | - |
| G1 | (32) Lucas Pouille vs. Marius Copil | 6 a.m. | Finish (3rd set) |
| L2 | (14) Samantha Stosur vs. Sabine Lisicki | Next | |
| G2 | (25) Viktor Troicki vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas | Next | |
| - | Court 18 | - | - |
| L1 | (31) Kristina Mladenovic vs. Ali Sasnovich | 6 a.m. | |
| L2 | (8) Venus Williams vs. Maria Sakkari | Next | |
| L2 | (4) Angelique Kerber vs. Varvara Lepchenko | Next | |
| L2 | (19) Dominika Cibulkova vs. Daria Gavrilova | Next | |
| - | Court 19 | - | - |
| L2 | Anna-Lena Friedsam vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova | 6 a.m. | |
| G2 | Steve Johnson vs. Jeremy Chardy | Next | Finish (1st set) |
Day 4 Preview and Predictions
Aside from the usual suspects, Milos Raonic is the most intriguing name on the men's side. The powerful Canadian showed a desire to adjust his game to the grass courts in his opening victory over Pablo Carreno Busta, which could make him a threat if he can fully adapt over the next few matches.
Raonic came to net 42 times, double the total of his Spanish foe, but won just 57 percent of the points on those approaches. Many of the misses, especially in the latter stages of the match, were routine errors from the forehand volley.
It's difficult to complete that type of transition during the short grass-court season, but he's clearly committed to becoming a more well-rounded player on the surface. Afterward, he expressed happiness with his progress, per Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star.
"Other than when I was sort of getting ahead of myself or not fully focused coming forward, I think I did things well," Raonic said. "I came forward. I made it difficult for Carreno out there."
Italian veteran Andreas Seppi represents a much tougher challenge in Round 2. He crushed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round, losing just six games. It's a match Raonic should win in three or four sets, but how he performs at net will be a key factor in determining his outlook for the rest of the event.
That's likely going to become the most competitive match featuring a top-10 men's player Thursday. The other marquee names in action—Murray, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic, Richard Gasquet, Dominic Thiem and Marin Cilic—all have more favorable matchups.
If there are any underdogs with an outside chance to pull off a high-profile upset, it's likely Jiri Vesely against Thiem or Julien Benneteau against Nishikori, but the odds are slim.
On the women's side, Muguruza is looking for back-to-back major titles after capturing her first at the French Open in early June. The question is whether she's quite as dangerous when she doesn't have as much time to control points as was the case on the slow clay.
There were some troubling signs in her highly competitive Round 1 triumph over Camila Giorgi, which went the distance. She finished with just as many unforced errors as winners (30 each) and converted just four of 19 break points. Improved efficiency is a must moving forward.
That said, she's no stranger to dropping a set early in a Grand Slam and coming back strong, as pointed out by Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated:
It will be interesting to see how she responds against 124th-ranked Jana Cepelova. She should win in straight sets. Even if she advances through another three-set marathon, it would spell trouble for her chances of contending for another title.
Some of the other seeded players could be in for tough battles of their own Thursday.
No. 4 Angelique Kerber (vs. Varvara Lepchenko), No. 5 Simona Halep (vs. Francesca Schiavone), No. 16 Johanna Konta (vs. Eugenie Bouchard) and No. 18 Sloane Stephens (vs. Peng Shuai) all figure to get seriously tested. At least one of them will likely see an early tournament exit.
Ultimately, the most important thing in the big picture is starting to make some progress toward catching up after the rain. It's starting to reach the point where pushing matches back could create rest issues during the second week, especially with no play on the middle Sunday.
The bad news is that the aforementioned AccuWeather forecast keeps at least the possibility of rain in the forecast for most of the next two weeks. So it could become a situation where the players who benefit from scheduling luck hold a substantial edge at the business end of the event.
All match statistics courtesy of the tournament's official site.
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