Following a pair of relatively tiresome third round encounters, Tomas Berdych and Gilles Simon will cross paths for the eleventh time on the ATP World Tour when they meet in the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championships. Simon leads the head-to-head series 6-4. Berdych won their most recent encounter, which took place earlier this year in Rotterdam and ended 6-2, 6-1 for the Czech native as he advanced to the final of the tournament.

After dropping the opening set against Pablo Andujar, Tomas Berdych found himself rallying from that early deficit to defeat the Spaniard in four set and secure his place in the fourth round at the All England Club. It was a tough contest for the sixth seed yet he was eventually able to get a grip on the match and converted seven break point opportunities and struck 58 winners to close out the match 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-6(3) in two hours and 39 minutes. The former runner-up will now go on o the second week of the tournament.

France’s Gilles Simon was faced with the task of downing talented countryman Gael Monfils to advance to the fourth round of the tournament. He eventually did so in five sets but it was no easy matter. Simon needed three hours and 11 minutes to rally back and defeat Monfils 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-2 on Saturday.

“It was great,” said Monfils. “I’ve known Gilles for a long time so it is always nice to play with him. First time we play in Wimbledon, so it was good. We always have fun.”

This marks the eleventh time these two competitors will meet on the professional tour, with Simon leading the series 6-4. The Frenchman is more than capable of a strong win here against his Czech adversary but has already played several grueling matches and simply may not have enough in the gas tank to complete the process this time around. Given that the two competitors have never stepped across the net on grass, that should add a layer of intrigue to this contest.