The first week of Wimbledon 2021 concludes on Saturday when the third round of the tournament finishes. That means by the end of the day we will know the line-up for the last ever ‘Manic Monday’ at SW19 with the middle Sunday coming into operation from next year.
Those who fancy their chances at winning this tournament are beginning to show their credentials now and on Saturday the likes of Roger Federer, Ash Barty, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev get to show what they can do once again.
Day 5 Recap
Friday was a day of some fantastic tennis with Ons Jabeur probably stealing the show for her three set win over Garbine Muguruza. There were much more comfortable passages into the second week for Novak Djokovic, Karolina Pliskova, Iga Swiatek and Denis Shapovalov who all won in straight sets but Diego Schwartzman and Elise Mertens were among the seeded players to fall by the wayside, while Andy Murray also saw his hopes dashed.
For the first time in the tournament we lost a three point bet but two of the three which we advised were victorious so it was another profitable day for us. That was secured at the earliest opportunity after Cristian Garin and Pedro Martinez played out a four setter which saw the 37.5 game line covered. The profit was guaranteed on the day when Madison Keys eased past Elise Mertens but unfortunately Andy Murray had no answer to the quality of Denis Shapovalov so the over in the games in their match was our first 3pt loser of the week.
Centre Court
The young superstar Coco Gauff has the chance to open up the play on the Centre Court on Saturday afternoon. The American faces another talented player in the form of Kaja Juvan for a place in the second week of the tournament. When they are done the one remaining British player in the men’s singles draw takes to the court when Cameron Norrie meets the legendary figure of Roger Federer. The action on Centre Court will be closed out by the number one seed in the women’s draw as Ash Barty takes on Katerina Siniakova.
Court 1
The other British player still standing starts the play on Court 1 on Saturday when Emma Eaducanu plays the biggest match of her life against the classy Romanian player Sorana Cirstea. The last two matches on Court 1 on Saturday afternoon both come in the men’s draw. The first of those sees the entertaining Nick Kyrgios taking on the Canadian hotshot Felix Anger-Aliassime before the number two seed Daniil Medvedev meets the former finalist Marin Cilic in potentially the best match of the day.
Court 2
Because of the indifferent weather forecast for SW19 on Saturday there are only two matches on Court 2 on Saturday afternoon in the singles draw. The first of those sees the former champion Angelique Kerber looking for a much smoother contest than the 3 hour 20 minute thriller she played in the last round. She faces Aliaksandra Sasnovich who benefitted from the withdrawal of Serena Williams earlier in the week. When they are done another German star will be on court when Alexander Zverev takes on the promising American player Taylor Fritz.
Court 3
It is the same situation on Court 3 where just two singles matches will be played to ensure we don’t need to come back on Sunday. The first of those sees the Queens champion Matteo Berrettini looking to make it to the second week at Wimbledon for the second time in succession. He meets the former British player Aljaz Bedene before the French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova is back on the court. She will look to extend her unbeaten run in Grand Slam play when she faces the Latvian ace Anastasija Sevastova.
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Best of the Rest
There are six singles matches dotted around the grounds on the outside courts on Saturday with each of them starting off the play on their respective courts to ensure we get done despite the forecast. Hubert Hurkacz meets Alexander Bublik in what should be an entertaining match on Court 12 while on Court 18 the singles action comes from the women’s draw as Karolina Muchova faces Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. There is singles play on Court 14 where Jordan Thompson is in action, on Court 15 where our outright pick Jelena Ostapenko will be on show, on Court 16 where the impressive Paula Badosa will look to make progress and on Court 17 where Lorenzo Sonego is the star act.
Men’s Betting
I’ll take two in the men’s draw on Saturday with the first of those coming in the match between Ilya Ivashka and Jordan Thompson where on results this week the Australian looks to be a bit of value at odds against. He has seen off Casper Ruud and Kei Nishikori this week and while neither could proclaim to be at home on the grass they are a better standard of player than Jeremy Chardy and Jaume Munar, who can’t exactly be called grass court specialists either. Ivashka did offer up some decent form at Eastbourne last week but Thompson wasn’t out of form coming into this tournament. He has delivered the better promise of the two here and could well be served better by the heavier conditions. I’ll play Thompson at the prices.
My other bet involves an Australian too because I just can’t believe the match between Felix Auger-Aliassime and Nick Kyrgios will be one-sided. I expect it to be tight, like when Kyrgios played another talented youngster in Ugo Humbert in the first round, and full of serve dominated sets. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few tiebreaks in this one but I just don’t see it being won in straight sets so the over 40.5 games should fly in at some point in what should be a very watchable encounter between two entertainers.
Women’s Betting
I’ll go with just the one bet in the women’s draw and that comes in the shape of Kaja Juvan in her match with the young star Coco Gauff on Centre Court. The question mark here would be whether Juvan settles on Centre but if she does I think she can give as good as she gets against a Gauff who still has plenty of issues on her serve and as a favourite expected to progress on what is usually a ceremonial type day on Centre Court I wouldn’t be completely surprised if these are the conditions in which that serve goes a little cockeyed again.
Juvan will be coming into this match full of confidence after her run so far which has seen here destroy Belinda Bencic in the first round and I think she can run Gauff close. They last met in Adelaide earlier in the year when Gauff won in a deciding set but she was only two games better than the Slovenian over the three sets and something similar could transpire here quite easily. I think the 4.5 game handicap is weighted a little too heavily in the favour of Juvan here.
Tips
Back J.Thompson to beat I.Ivashka for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back F.Auger-Aliassime vs N.Kyrgios – Over 40.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Betway
Back K.Javan (+4.5 games) to beat C.Gauff for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
Back her here:
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