Men's 1st Marquee Matchup: Wimbledon Quarterfinals

The men's field has finally caught up to the women's in terms of matchups and here's a potentially great clash. Third seed Andy "A-Rod" Roddick took care of the mentally fragile Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (6) and will look to defeat a second Frenchie in the uber-talented Richard Gasquet, the 12th seed. Gasquet trumped his countryman Jo-Wilfired Tsonga 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Neither man has lost a set at this tournament. A-Rod was a heavily-touted junior who owns one of the biggest serves in tennis and 1 Grand Slam - the 2003 U.S. Open. Gasquet was also a heavily-touted junior player and owns one of the best one-handed backhands in tennis, but he is making his first quarterfinal appearance in a Slam at age 21 (the same age Federer won his very first Slam at Wimby, incidentally.) He has yet to take even a set off of A-Rod the 2 times they've played, but something tells me things could be different this time around.

Here's what A-Rod said about playing Gasquet:

"Yeah, you know, I think it will be correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't know if Gasquet has been in the quarters before of a Slam but I think it will be the first time for either [Gasquet or Tsonga]. That's probably not going to hurt me. I just hope they play for about 12 hours today."

Gasquet had this to say about A-Rod:

"I have to be aggressive, but it will be hard with his serve for sure. That's not easy on my serve after I have a lot of pressure, because I don't want to lose my serve because after with his serve, that's incredible. That's really difficult."

Matthew Cronin for FoxSports.com thinks A-Rod has the stuff to be a Wimby champion this year.

Tell me what you think!

(images courtesy of AP Photos)