PETE ZIEBRON
Leonardo Mayer is into the 2nd week of a major for the first time in his career. Pete Ziebron Images
World #64 Leonardo Mayer of Argentina continued his impressive run at Wimbledon with a 6-4 7-6(1) 6-3 win over Russian Andrey Kuznetsov in 3rd round action on Friday. Mayer saved all 9 break points against his serve in the match.
With the win, Mayer evened his career mark at majors at 19-19, an impressive accomplishment given the fact that his career record in singles on the ATP Tour is 77-89.
In fact, Mayer has lost to a top 3 seed in the last 3 majors that he has played:
- 2014 Roland Garros - 3rd round loss to #1 Rafael Nadal
- 2014 Australian Open - 2nd round loss to #2 Novak Djokovic
- 2013 US Open - 2nd round loss to #3 Andy Murray
Immediately following the Australian Open loss to Djokovic, Mayer reached his first career final this February in Vina del Mar, Chile, where he lost in straight sets to then world #15 Fabio Fognini of Italy.
This year at Wimbledon, Mayer fired 22 aces and came back from 2 sets to 1 down in the 1st round to defeat the tournament's #25 seed Italian Andreas Seppi. Next, Mayer won 16 of 24 points at net in defeating Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the 2nd round before eliminating Kuznetsov of Russia in the 3rd round.
Mayer reached a career high of world #51 in June 2010 and his current ranking of 64 will certainly rise given the fact that he was eliminated in the 2nd round at Wimbledon last year. Although Mayer plays his best on clay, his 4th round appearance on the lawns of Wimbledon is the deepest he has ever gone in any major, besting 4 3rd round results at Roland Garros.
Next up for Mayer is the #11 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. Dimitrov, this year's Champion of the grass court tournament at Queen's Club in London, came from 2 sets to 1 down to defeat Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in the 3rd round yesterday at Wimbledon.
Should Mayer defeat Dimitrov on Monday and if defending Wimbledon Champion and #3 seed Andy Murray beats South African Kevin Anderson, Leonardo Mayer will play a top 3 seed for the 4th consecutive major.
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