Wimbledon 2018: Men's singles draw preview and analysis

SECOND QUARTER

The Croatian Marin Cilic will look to go deep into the Championships.

Projected quarter-final #3 Marin Cilic vs #6 Grigor Dimitrov.

World No. 5 Marin Cilic leads 3-1 over the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. The 2017 Wimbledon runner up Cilic has been consistent at the All England Club over the past years, making four back to back quarter-finals since 2014. The Croat is unbeaten on grass this season, picking up the Trophy at Queens.championships.

Arguably a threat to Federer, Marin Cilic is the man to watch out for. He opens against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. Cilic could be staring at a potential third round clash with Philip Krajinovic. Milos Raonic or Lucas Pouille should possibly meet the Croat in the fourth round.

The in-form Raonic, the 2017 quarter-finalist at Wimbledon, has also had some consistent results this season on grass. He made the Finals in Stuttgart and also posed a scare to top seed and the eventual champion Roger Federer in the showdown. If Raonic manages to stay injury free, there is little that can hold him back. That said, I believe Cilic has all the weapons in his bag to wade through any challenges strewn in his way.

It's fairly safe to say that Cilic will emerge as a semifinalist from this quarter.

What is more intriguing in this quarter is the first round clash between Wawrinka and Dimitrov. But then Wawrinka has been at the receiving end of knee injuries that have pushed him on the sidelines since the last season. The Swiss is not playing his best tennis lately and so might not be able to subdue Dimitrov.

Meanwhile Dimitrov, who carved a niche for himself in 2017 by clinching the ATP World Tour Finals, has yet to find his ground in this season. Given Wawrinka’s injury struggles, Dimitrov should find it easy to make it past the opening hurdle, but could face big obstacles after that.

Greek rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been gaining momentum recently, is a potential third round opponent for the Bulgarian, while Miami Open champion John Isner looks as a potential fourth round opponent for Dimitrov. But the records say that Isner has never made it past the third round at Wimbledon, and it will be worth the wait to watch if Isner can rewrite the script with his new found enthusiasm. The American has not played a single match since his fourth round loss to Del Potro at Roland Garros.

Those who follow the all-year-round tennis action will know that the Bulgarian Dimitrov is not very dependable in crunch situations, and is vulnerable to a loss at the hands of Tsitsipas. Time will tell if the 6th seed can hold on and go deep in the tournament.