Wimbledon 2017: Saturday Schedule and Predictions for London Bracket

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will return to Wimbledon competition on Saturday as they and other top singles contenders look to seal their spots in the fourth round of the tournament.

Federer in particular has been favoured heavily after displaying strong form coming into this year's London showcase, and he faces German Mischa Zverev while Djokovic looks to overcome Latvian Ernests Gulbis.

The meeting between Federer and Zverev will be one of two battles between seeded stars on Saturday, the other being sixth seed Milos Raonic's fixture against No. 25 Albert Ramos Vinolas.

Top women's seed Angelique Kerber will have to beat American Shelby Rogers in order to take her spot in the fourth round, where she could face either Garbine Muguruza or Sorana Cirstea, who also clash on Saturday.

Read on for a preview of Saturday's matches, complete with predictions for who we'll see emerge victorious.

Friday Fixtures (Predicted Winner)

Men's Singles

• [13] Grigor Dimitrov vs. Dudi Sela (Dimitrov)
• [11] Tomas Berdych vs. David Ferrer (Berdych)
• [2] Novak Djokovic vs. Ernests Gulbis (Djokovic)
• [15] Gael Monfils vs. Adrian Mannarino (Monfils)
• [10] Alexander Zverev vs. Sebastian Ofner (Zverev)
• [6] Milos Raonic vs. [25] Albert Ramos Vinolas (Raonic)
• [8] Dominic Thiem vs. Jared Donaldson (Thiem)
• [3] Roger Federer vs. [27] Mischa Zverev (Federer)

Women's Singles

• [14] Garbine Muguruza vs. Sorana Cirstea (Muguruza)
• [7] Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Polona Hercog (Kuznetsova)
• [1] Angelique Kerber vs. Shelby Rogers (Kerber)
• [5] Caroline Wozniacki vs. Anett Kontaveit (Wozniacki)
• Petra Martic vs. Zarina Diyas (Diyas)
• [9] Agnieszka Radwanska vs. [19] Timea Bacsinszky (Bacsinszky)
• [24] Coco Vandeweghe vs. Alison Riske (Vandeweghe)
• Magdalena Rybarikova vs. Lesia Tsurenko (Tsurenko)

For the full Wimbledon schedule, visit the tournament's website. 

Preview

Saturday's third-round schedule looks like a routine affair almost free of potential potholes, but 2017's tennis landscape has taught us there are no safe fixtures, meaning surprises may be afoot at SW19.

That being said, Djokovic will enter his battle against Gulbis full of confidence after beating Adam Pavlasek in straight sets so convincingly on Thursday, per Wimbledon's official Twitter account:

The older of the Zverev brothers, Mischa, has faced Federer four times in his career and lost on each of those occasions, and it seems a tall order for the German to notch his maiden victory at the Swiss star's favoured turf.

Beating Federer on grass is a difficult task at the best of times, although tennis writer Nick Nemeroff recently teased a potential surprise unravelling in those matches involving top contenders:

Zverev may not be down and out as of yet, but his pre-match comments hinted at his disparity coming into the clash, per tennis reporter Ricky Dimon:

Kerber booked her place in the third round after beating Kirsten Flipkens 7-5, 7-5 in what was an early test of her credentials as top seed, albeit one she pulled through with flying colours.

But that result didn't come without its share of scares for the world No. 1, as she told BBC Sport in the aftermath, begging the question as to whether her failings were just rust or signs of form slipping once again:

In either case, Kerber should have the fortitude to make her way past Rogers, who will look to the German's defeats already this year as hope that she can be beaten.

Arguably the easiest draw of the third round, however, goes to Wozniacki, who can bank on having one of the simpler runs into the competition's latter stages, said Jose Morgado of Portuguese newspaper Record:

She takes on 21-year-old prospect Kontaveit, who may struggle considering this is her first year making it past the first round at Wimbledon.

The draw of the round sees No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska go up against 19th seed Timea Bacsinszky, who has won their only two meetings prior to now.