Tennis Day 4 Preview: Russia holds numerical advantage into Day 4

(BEIJING, August 13) -- Wednesday, August 13, sees the players battling for quarterfinal places in the Men's and Women's Singles and Men's Doubles events at the Olympic Green Tennis Center.

Russia is the most successful overall in the Singles events with five players remaining (two men, three women) across the two events. France and Russia are the only nations with more than one player advancing to the last 16 in Men's Singles, while it is Russia, China and the United States in Women's Singles.

Men's Singles, Third Round (last 16)

Top seed Roger Federer of Switzerland meets Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic for the second successive Olympics. Berdych burst onto the Tennis scene in Athens, upsetting Federer in the second round when the Swiss player was the favorite for gold. Federer has since defeated Berdych six times.

Rafael Nadal of Spain plays Igor Andreev of Russia. Nadal is making his Olympic Singles debut, while Andreev has reached this stage for the second successive Games.

Another Russian, Mikhail Youzhny faces No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

Athens bronze medalist Fernando Gonzalez of Chile faces Olivier Rochus of Belgium.

Paul-Henri Mathieu of France faces Germany's Nicolas Kiefer, Doubles silver medalist in Athens.

Mathieu's fellow countrymen Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon play No. 7 seed David Nalbandian of Argentina and James Blake of the United States, respectively.

Lu Yen-hsun of Chinese Taipei, who produced his first victory over a Top 10 player in defeating Andy Murray of Great Britain in the first round, takes on Jurgen Melzer of Austria, who upset No. 9 seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the second round.

Women's Singles, Third Round (last 16)

World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia faces Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia with both players bidding to reach a first Olympic quarterfinal.

No. 4 seed Serena Williams of the United States has a second career meeting with Alize Cornet of France. Williams defeated the 18-year-old in their previous meeting at Charleston this year.

Serena's elder sister Venus Williams has a first-ever meeting with Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. This is Williams's third Olympic Games; she won Singles and Doubles gold in Sydney and reached the Singles round of 16 in Athens.

Zheng Jie and Li Na are both bidding to become the first Chinese players to reach the Women's Singles quarterfinal at an Olympic Games. Zheng hopes to upset No. 6 seed Dinara Safina of Russia. Li faces a first meeting with Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

Elena Dementieva of Russia, who won silver in 2000, has a first meeting with rising Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, while Vera Zvonareva of Russia plays Francesca Schiavone of Italy.

Men's Doubles Second Round (last 16)

Top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan of the United States play Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer of Austria while Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra of France take on another pair of brothers, Andy and Jamie Murray of Great Britain.

The world's top three Singles players are also on Doubles duty on Wednesday, August 13. Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland face Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, and Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo of Spain take on Chris Guccione and Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.

Vizner Pavel teams with Damm Martin of Czech Republic against Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland.