The second round of the cinch Championships begins at Queens Club on Wednesday when half of the matches are scheduled to be played in what is forecast to be a red hot day both on and off the tennis court.
There haven’t been too many surprises in the competition so far which makes for an excellent schedule with all of the matches taking place on the Centre Court from here on in and each game on Wednesday has a seeded player in it.
Lorenzo Musetti vs Ben Shelton
The opening second round match sees two men with big serves battling it out for a spot in the quarter final when the Italian sixth seed Lorenzo Musetti goes up against the American who is continuing to make his way in the game in Ben Shelton.
Musetti comes here as the higher ranked player and potentially with more to lose but facing lefties on this surface is never the easiest task in the world so it will be interesting to see how the Italian deals with that. He has a mixed record on grass so he’ll certainly be looking to improve that and a run to the quarter final here would certainly help that. Shelton played his first professional match on grass in the first round and looked fairly good but it is a short sample size. There is something in my gut which tells me Shelton might be the one to be on here but a lack of real form to support it makes me pass this one up.
Jordan Thompson vs Cameron Norrie
One of the picks of the day three matches is the one which sees the finalist in Hertogenbosch last week in Jordan Thompson going up against the British number one Cameron Norrie who is looking to build up his grass court work this season.
Thompson has begun the grass court campaign in excellent touch with a run to the semi-finals in Surbiton before Andy Murray got the better of him before reaching the final in the Netherlands last week. Norrie looks a little sluggish at times in his opening round win over a competent Miomir Kecmanovic with the bigger concern for British fans being some strapping just below the knee of the left hander. If all things were equal in this match I would probably side with the Australian here but he played his first round match on Tuesday whereas Norrie played on Monday and given that Thompson has been extremely active in the last two weeks I wonder if that will catch up with him. Thompson is my hunch here but I’ll leave this one alone too.
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Ryan Peniston vs Holger Rune
The penultimate match on the Centre Court schedule on Wednesday is a repeat of a clash from Eastbourne last season as the British player Ryan Peniston looks to make the quarter final for the second year in succession when he meets the second seed Holger Rune.
Peniston played very well in the opening round when he beat an Ugo Humbert who is established and comfortable on the grass. That further highlighted the potential Peniston has even if he lacks significant experience at this level. Rune doesn’t lack for top level tennis experience but his win over Maxime Cressy was his first on grass as a professional so he does lack for match wins on this surface, which might well keep Peniston interested. You would imagine the class of Rune will come through here but Peniston won their meeting at Eastbourne last season and that knowledge of knowing he can beat the Dane on this surface could be invaluable. I’m happy to take a watching brief on this one.
Frances Tiafoe vs Sebastian Korda
We conclude the day with a battle between two very exciting American players when the fourth seed Frances Tiafoe looks to continue a grass court campaign which has already yielded a title in Stuttgart when he meets Sebastian Korda.
There were unknowns about Korda heading into the tournament after some significant injury absences but he looked like he had been playing all year as he timed the ball so well and hit it so cleanly in dispatching Dan Evans with no fuss at all. Tiafoe had an equally as comfortable win over Botip van de Zandschulp. That came on Tuesday whereas Korda won on Monday so if the freshness factor is a thing here then Korda certainly has an advantage. The head-to-head is interesting here. Tiafoe leads it 3-1 but three of the four matches have gone to a deciding set and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one follows suit. I certainly expect a tight match with both capable of holding their serve nicely in fast conditions. The game line here is 22.5 which gives us scope for a two set match covering it if one of them is a tiebreak. That is very likely so I’ll play the over.
Tips
Back F.Tiafoe vs S.Korda – Over 22.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.75 with Coral
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