The last 16 of the cinch Championships gets underway at the Queens Club in London on Wednesday as half of the draw play their second matches of the week. Everyone has had a hit out on the grass now so we should see the quality improve from here on in.
It is another day where the bulk of the action has a British interest to it and with the remainder of the singles event on the main Centre Court there is a feeling that the intensity of the tournament is set to increase.
Day 2 Recap
It was a pretty run of the mill day at the Queens Club on Tuesday. The four seeds who were in action all won and only Alex de Minaur dropped a set along the way with Fabio Fognini, Matteo Berrettini and Denis Shapovalov all coming through in straight sets. There was also a win for Andy Murray while former champion Marin Cilic was among those who made it through to the second round. The only upset of sorts saw Aljaz Bedene beating Frances Tiafoe.
It wasn’t a great day for us betting wise. We took a chance that Yen-Hsun Lu could frustrate Fabio Fognini and at times in the match he did just that but he couldn’t take advantage when he had the Italian at it so the speculative bet we had on the man from Taiwan went west. We’re still in profit for the tournament though and hopefully we can build on that over the remainder of the week.
Alex de Minaur vs John Millman
The day begins with a pair of Australian players battling it out when Alex de Minaur meets John Millman for a place in the quarter finals of a tournament both would want to have gone deep in but perhaps wouldn’t have expected to.
Both players had to go to a deciding set in the previous round and in the intense heat expected in London on Wednesday I’m sure they will both be eager to avoid that but I’m not convinced they will because their games are remarkably similar so if this is to be won easily then someone will need to be off their game. I’m not convinced either player is suited to a grass court though so that could very well happen which puts me off betting on this match.
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Aslan Karatsev vs Cameron Norrie
The second match of the afternoon sees the British number two Cameron Norrie taking to the court once again when he meets the Australian Open semi-finalist Aslan Karatsev for a place in the quarter finals on Friday.
This is another match that pits two players together who aren’t really comfortable on grass and that showed in the first round. Although they both won their opening matches, both needed a third set against lesser opponents and never really looked convincing. I can see them combining for something similar here too. In essence these two play the same game. Karatsev has a little more power to his game but that suits Norrie just fine. I would be surprised if this doesn’t go to a third set but if it doesn’t I expect it to be close enough for over 22.5 games to land in two sets. I’ll play the over.
Alexander Bublik vs Jack Draper
The penultimate game of the day sees the Kazakh player Alexander Bublik looking for a place in the quarter final when he takes on the British youngster Jack Draper who will be aiming to build on his fine win over Jannik Sinner in the first round.
Draper took a while to settle against Sinner on Monday but when he did he showed why he is being spoken of so highly and why British tennis has high hopes for him in the future. He hits a clean ball and has that leftie serve which can be awkward to face. Speaking of serves that are awkward to face that is exactly the case with Bublik. He can be a bit fragile temperamentally but if he fancies the job here, and the way he battled in the opening round suggests he does, then he is entitled to be hard to beat behind that big serve. I’m on him for the quarter so I’m hoping he wins and that’s enough interest for me.
Marin Cilic vs Fabio Fognini
It might be that the best has been saved for last on Wednesday afternoon as the last game of the day sees the former champion and past Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic taking on the eighth seed Fabio Fognini in what should be a really entertaining match.
Both these players are comfortable on this surface. Cilic has shown that in the past but if you weren’t aware of it he reminded everyone in Stuttgart last week where he won the first grass court tournament of the year. The only thing that goes against Cilic here is he played last on Tuesday and was involved in a 2hr30 match a few days after a winning week and the legs will surely catch up with the Croatian in the end. He might well come through here though because Fognini is a law unto himself. He doesn’t know what he is going to do so we’ve no chance of predicting it. I’ll sit this one out.
Tips
Back A.Karatsev vs C.Norrie – Over 22.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with 888sport
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