Wimbledon is well underway now, and with most of the favourites progressing comfortably into round two the tournament is shaping up rather nicely. Round two kicks off on Wednesday, and while there are still plenty of ‘gimmies’ for punters to navigate there is lots of betting value to be enjoyed too.
Here are some ideas to help fill your betslips on Wednesday:
The Brits are Coming
On Wednesday there will be four British stars in action, with Andy Murray and Aljaz Bedene representing the men and Jo Konta and Heather Watson the ladies.
World number one Murray lines up against Dustin Brown, a former conqueror of Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon who overcame Joao Sousa in four sets in round one. Murray looked fit and ready to go in his straight sets win, putting to bed any concerns about that hip injury, and he should have no problems despatching the German.
Bedene has an altogether more difficult task against Damir Dzumhur, who dropped just three games in his opening round demolition of Renzo Olivo. Dzumhur came into Wimbledon on the back of a clay court title win, so his confidence will be high, while Bedene must be knackered after his five-set thriller against Ivo Karlovic. Over 3.5 Sets at 8/11 is the play in that one.
Konta showed no ill effects from her fall at Eastbourne in racking up a 6-2, 6-2 win over Su-Wei Hsieh in the first round, and she should have no trouble in seeing off Donna Vekic in her second-round date. She’s 4/6 to win 2-0.
And finally Heather Watson, who faces a tough assignment against the number 18 seed, Anastasija Sevastova. But Watson, with the full support of the crowd behind her and playing some excellent tennis herself, is mighty tempting at 6/5.
Wednesday’s Best Bets
The number nine seed in the men’s draw, Kei Nishikori, wasted little time in winning his first-round match, but he faces a different prospect altogether in Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Ukrainian boasts a fantastic service game, and he has every chance of winning a set – perhaps in a losing effort – to the Japanese ace. That’s great value at 5/6.
There’s an all-French clash as Pierre Hugues-Herbert takes on Benoit Paire. The latter is an exceptional talent on his day, and he should – if he turns up – have too much for Herbert, who made hard work of a match against Nick Kyrgios hobbling around on one leg. Paire, at 4/5, is decent value all things considered.
Talented young Russian hopeful Daniil Medvedev played in three grass court tournaments prior to Wimbledon, reaching the quarter finals of two and the semis of the other. Did that preparation help him? You bet: he beat two-time major winner Stan Wawrinka in the opening round.
Assuming Medvedev doesn’t suffer from the fabled ‘after the lord mayor’s show’, he’ll have a much easier time of it against Ruben Bemelmans in round two. So Medvedev with a -6.5 handicap is a smart investment at 11/10.
On the women’s side of the draw, Viktoria Azarenka looks fit and well after a number of career-threatening injuries, and in round two she will look forward to a clash with Elena Vesnina – a player she leads 7-0 in the head-to-heads with each victory coming in straight sets. Azarenka is 6/5 to repeat the feat.
Venus Williams beat her second round opponent, Qiang Wang, in straight sets at the French Open a matter of weeks ago, and there is no reason why she can’t repeat the dose at SW19 tomorrow. She can be backed at 8/11 to do exactly that.