Wimbledon 2016: Sunday Schedule and Predictions for London Bracket
While the middle Sunday at Wimbledon is usually a time for rest and relaxation, the constant rain at the All England Club in the opening week will force tradition to go to the wayside for the first time since 2004.
Several third-round matches in the men's and women's singles draw will take place in their entirety Sunday, while a handful of men's singles contests that were delayed due to rain or suspended because of darkness will be completed as well.
With women's No. 1 Serena Williams headlining Sunday's slate of play, here is a look at every men's and women's singles match on the schedule, as well as predictions for the most anticipated clashes.
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Sunday Singles Schedule
| - | Centre Court | - |
| L3 | (27) Coco Vandeweghe vs. (6) Roberta Vinci | 6:30 a.m. |
| L3 | (1) Serena Williams vs. Annika Beck | Next |
| G3 | (24) Alexander Zverev vs. (10) Tomas Berdych | Next |
| - | No. 1 Court | - |
| L3 | (18) Sloane Stephens vs. (13) Svetlana Kuznetsova | 6:30 a.m. |
| G3 | (15) Nick Kyrgios vs. (22) Feliciano Lopez | Next |
| G3 | Jiri Vesely vs. (31) Joao Sousa | Next |
| - | No. 2 Court | - |
| L3 | (11) Timea Bacsinszky vs. (21) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | 6:30 a.m. |
| G3 | (18) John Isner vs. (12) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga | Next |
| - | No. 3 Court | - |
| L3 | Ekaterina Makarova vs. (24) Barbora Strycova | after 6:30 a.m. match |
| - | Court 12 | - |
| L3 | Elena Vesnina vs. Julia Boserup | 6:30 a.m. |
| G3 | (32) Lucas Pouille vs. Juan Martin del Potro | Next |
| - | Court 18 | - |
| G3 | (7) Richard Gasquet vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas | after 6:30 a.m. match |
Predictions for Top Matches
Serena Williams vs. Annika Beck
Serena is still in search of her first 2016 Grand Slam title and will have an opportunity to take another step toward it when she takes on Germany's Annika Beck in the third round.
Williams enters the tilt having barely survived a tough second-round encounter with fellow Christina McHale. Serena prevailed 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4, but it wasn't without some frustration.
As seen in this Vine courtesy of The Cauldron, the 21-time Grand Slam titlist destroyed her racket in the midst of a trying and stressful match:
"Serena Williams slams her racket repeatedly, tosses it backwards into camera guy https://t.co/9HNethr1Zf
— The Cauldron (ICYMI) (@CauldronICYMI) July 1, 2016"
Despite the emotional display, Serena battled back to win and expressed confidence in her mental toughness after the victory.
"Mentally, no one can break me," she said, according to Mark Hodgkinson of Wimbledon.com.
Sunday will mark the first career meeting between Williams and Beck, and while Serena is heavily favored as she should be, she has been far from invincible in 2016.
She fell to Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza in the Australian Open and French Open finals, respectively, and lesser players forced her to third sets on multiple occasions within those tournaments.
It wouldn't be surprising to see Beck push Serena to the limit, but Williams tends to come out on top at this juncture of Grand Slams even when she is struggling.
The world No. 1 could use an emphatic performance as she heads into the fourth round to take on a difficult opponent in Sloane Stephens or Svetlana Kuznetsova. Serena will dig deep to get it against Beck.
Prediction: Williams in two sets
Alexander Zverev vs. Tomas Berdych
Only two men's singles matches will start from scratch Sunday at Wimbledon, and the most intriguing among them is a battle between No. 24 Alexander Zverev and No. 10 Tomas Berdych.
Berdych is a former Wimbledon finalist with a huge experience edge, but the 19-year-old Zverev is among the fastest-rising stars in men's tennis.
He is coming off an upset victory over Roger Federer in the Gerry Weber Open, and two-time U.S. Open champion Tracy Austin sees huge things in his future:
Despite the young German's surge, the numbers seem to favor Berdych. In addition to his past success at Wimbledon, he became one of the top contenders to win the tournament when American Sam Querrey ousted No. 1 Novak Djokovic Saturday, according to Carl Bialik of ESPN's FiveThirtyEight:
The Czech veteran is also 3-0 against Zverev in his career, but the gap seems to be closing.
Zverev pushed Berdych to decisive sets in each of their two meetings this year, and he may be trending toward pulling off an upset.
The power game of Zverev is well tailored to grass courts, and while Berdych's craftiness figures to give him some problems, look for the youngster to reach his first career round of 16 at a Grand Slam.
Prediction: Zverev in five sets
Sloane Stephens vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova
Both Stephens and Kuznetsova have a penchant for playing marathon matches, so their third-round clash could prove to be one of the best matches of the tournament thus far.
Stephens, 23, is a young star brimming with potential, but she has struggled with inconsistency since reaching the Australian Open semifinals in 2013.
Kuznetsova is a two-time Grand Slam champion, but at 31 years of age, her window of opportunity to win another may be closing.
It is tough to predict how either player will perform on any given day, but Matt Cronin of USTA.com anticipates a hard-fought affair:
Stephens reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2013, and Kuznetsova has done so on three occasions, although she hasn't gotten that far since 2007.
Kuznetsova does have a 2-1 edge over Stephens in their head-to-head matchups, including winning their most recent meeting last year in Beijing, but they have never before played each other on grass.
The reward isn't great for either player since it will lead to a fourth-round meeting with Serena in all likelihood, but based on the unpredictability of the women's draw thus far, anything can happen.
Stephens and Kuznetsova figure to take each other down to the wire, but in the end the Russian's experience wins out and punches her a ticket into the round of 16.
Prediction: Kuznetsova in three sets
Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.
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