Five matches to watch today at Wimbledon MyZA

Serena Williams of the United States smiles after beating Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan in a Women’s singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Saturday, June 29, 2013. Photo: AP Photo/Sang Tan

Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament that schedules all 16 men’s and women’s fourth-round matches on the second Monday.

Here are five matches to watch:

1. Serena Williams vs. Sabine Lisicki: If Williams’ 34-match winning streak is going to face a real challenge, it might just come from Lisicki, the 23rd-seeded German who upset Maria Sharapova in last year’s fourth round at the All England Club. Her season ace total ranks No. 2 behind Williams, and she’s won 27 of 29 service games this tournament.

2. Novak Djokovic vs. Tommy Haas: After his gut-wrenching, 9-7 fifth-set loss to Rafael Nadal in the French Open semifinals, Djokovic didn’t sulk; he came out stronger than ever.

For the first time, he reached the second week of Wimbledon without dropping a set, and he made only three unforced errors in the third round. But the top-seeded Djokovic hasn’t faced much of a test yet.

He could against Haas, who eliminated Djokovic en route to the 2009 Wimbledon semifinals, and also defeated him at Key Biscayne in March, becoming the third-oldest man since 1968 to beat the No. 1 player.

3. Andy Murray vs. Mikhail Youzhny: Murray’s popularity skyrocketed when he bared his emotions and teared up during his runner-up speech after losing to Roger Federer in last year’s Wimbledon final, so imagine how big a deal he became a month later when he beat Federer at the All England Club to win a gold medal at the London Olympics, not to mention when he finally won his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open.

Youzhny is no pushover, the 20th-ranked Russian reached the final on grass at a tuneup tournament before Wimbledon, was a quarterfinalist at the All England Club in 2012, and twice reached Grand Slam semifinals. He’s also a character. He once made himself bleed by hammering himself in his head with a racket; used his foot to write a word of apology in the red clay at Roland Garros during a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 loss last year; and destroyed a racket at this year’s French Open by whacking it nine times against his sideline seat.

4. Lukas Kubot vs. Adrian Mannarino: Kubot is ranked 130th, Mannarino 111th, which is why theirs is the only men’s or women’s fourth-round match scheduled for Court 14 and its 312 spectators’ seats. Their matchup pits one guy who’s been serving really well against another who’s been returning really well (Kubot leads the remaining 16 men in percentage of return points won against first serve, 44, and in percentage of return games won, 50).

The winner of Kubot-Mannarino faces the winner of Jerzy Janowicz against Jurgen Melzer, so a member of that quartet will end up in the semifinal spot that pretty much everyone figured would belong to Federer or Nadal.

5. Sloane Stephens vs. Monica Puig; Laura Robson vs. Kaia Kanepi: OK, so listing two matches here raises the total to six to watch, but they’re both worth a mention. Stephens is 20, and both Puig and Robson are 19; the trio represents some of the top up-and-coming talent on the women’s tour.

“There’s definitely a new generation,” Williams said. “I feel like this might be the beginning of, maybe, the future. I mean, eventually there’s going to have to be a shift.” Stephens, an American, is seeded 17th, and into the fourth round for the fourth time in the past five Grand Slam tournaments, including a run to the Australian Open semifinals in January, when she beat Williams. – Associated Press