The first round of the singles draws at Wimbledon is set to conclude over the course of the day at SW19 on Tuesday as the halves of the draw who didn’t play on Monday get their campaign underway at the grass court Grand Slam.
We went through Monday largely without problems for the very big names although a couple of them withdrew before they played. We get to see the likes of Novak Djokovic and defending champion Marketa Vondrousova on court on Tuesday.
Centre Court
As is tradition, it is the women’s defending champion Marketa Vondrousova who opens up play on the main court on Tuesday. The Czech star will go up against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro from Spain in her first match in her title defence. It is the men who take centre stage when they are done beginning with the man who has won many Wimbledon titles in Novak Djokovic. He does take his place in the singles draw and goes up against Vit Kopriva. Andy Murray was set to make his final singles appearance in the third match but he has withdrawn and so it will be British number one Jack Draper who takes the primetime slot when he meets Elias Ymer.
Court 1
The women get things up and running over on Court 1 when the 2022 champion Elena Rybakina steps out onto court to meet the Romanian player Elena-Gabriela Ruse before we see the French Open finalist Alexander Zverev for the first time this week. He meets Roberto Carballes Baena in the middle match of the day. The last game on Court 1 looks like being an excellent affair when the world number one and top seed Iga Swiatek takes on the dangerous challenger Sofia Kenin in what is a really tricky tussle for the French Open champion.
Court 2
We have a battle of two American players opening up the show on Court 2 where Jessica Pegula begins her quest for a maiden Grand Slam when she takes on her compatriot Ashlyn Krueger. We have to dodge a few showers on the outside courts but if the weather plays ball the second match on court will see Andrey Rublev taking on Francico Comesana before an appealing men’s match has been elevated up the schedule when Jack Draper was due to be in action. It now sees Felix Auger-Aliassime taking on Thanasi Kokkinakis before we conclude on Court 2 with the women beaten in the last two finals here in Ons Jabeur going up against Moyuka Uchijima.
Court 3
The Halle finalist Hubert Hurkacz has a decent enough record at Wimbledon and he’ll be hoping to extend that when he takes on Radu Albot to open up the show on Court 3. When they are done the British number one and Nottingham champion Katie Boulter takes on the 2022 semi-finalist Tatjana Maria before Cameron Norrie looks to turn his form around in front of a home crowd when he goes up against Facundo Diaz Acosta before the action on Court 3 concludes with another women’s match as the Miami champion Danielle Collins begins her final Wimbledon with a meeting with Clara Tauson.
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Best of the Rest
As ever in the opening stages of a Grand Slam there are a number of big names and seeded players dotted about on the outside courts on Tuesday. Over on Court 12 the Hertogenbosch winner Alex de Minaur will be on show as will Jelena Ostapenko, Angelique Kerber and the Mallorca champion Alejandro Tabilo while Court 18 will see Stefanos Tsitsipas, Eastbourne winner Taylor Fritz and Elina Svitolina begin their campaigns. Liudmila Samsonova, Francisco Cerundolo, Lorenzo Musetti, Caroline Garcia and Karen Khachanov are some of the others on show.
Men’s Betting
I like two bets in the men’s draw on Tuesday with the first of those coming in the form of the Queens quarter finalist Rinky Hijikata who I think can get the better of Flavio Cobolli. The Italian finally got off the mark on grass as a senior when he won a couple of matches at Eastbourne last week but one of those was against a player ranked outside the top 300 in the world where he needed a deciding set so he isn’t comfortable on grass at all. Hijikata very much is and I’m not surprised by that because he has a good doubles game and the better players on grass still get the job done at the net. 8/11 on the Australian looks a good way to begin our day.
The other bet I like is the match between Felix Auger-Aliassime and Thanasi Kokkinakis to play out something of a marathon. I wouldn’t usually be looking to get involved in matches where the game line is into the 40s but this one does look like a tight battle where two men adept at protecting their serve are likely to play out a tiebreak or two. The game line here is 40.5 and if we get a couple of tiebreak sets we just need four sets for this to cover but there is still every chance it covers with one tiebreak set. The Canadian is a master in making hard work of early Grand Slam matches against lesser opponents than Kokkinakis so I wouldn’t be surprised to see these two going at it well beyond 40 games.
Women’s Betting
There are a couple that I like in the women’s draw as well with the first of those coming in the form of the Birmingham finalist Ajla Tomljanovic going up against Jelena Ostapenko. The Latvian actually has some good form on grass but she is so erratic that I have to be against her with a woman who has made a grass court final this season, beating Leylah Fernandez, who has since made the Eastbourne final, along the way. We saw Ostapenko at Eastbourne looking very ragged. There was that serve that nearly missed the court outside the tramlines the other side to the service box that she was aiming in and her all round demeanour didn’t look great. Tomljanovic has made the quarter final on her last two visits here and has to be value to get off to a winning start.
Another player who has been to the quarter final here is Jule Niemeier and I think she can get going with a win when she meets Viktorija Golubic in the opening round. Niemeier showed when she made that quarter final here a couple of years ago that she is powerful on the grass and can take care of anyone. That run saw wins over Anett Kontaveit and Lesia Tsurenko among others and although her grass court campaign hasn’t been great this term, three of her four losses have been in deciding sets to Donna Vekic, Diane Parry and Paula Badosa who have all looked in good touch this week. Golubic had better weeks in Birmingham and Eastbourne but lost to someone ranked at nearly 500 in Surbiton and to Rebecca Marino who is nearly at 150 in Nottingham. Golubic doesn’t have a great record in majors and I think she’ll meet her match here.
Tips
Back R.Hijikata to beat F.Cobolli for a 3/10 stake at 1.75 with BetVictor
Back F.Auger-Aliassime vs T.Kokkinakis – Over 40.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
Back it here:
Back A.Tomljanovic to beat J.Ostapenko for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Betway
Back J.Niemeier to beat V.Golubic for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
Back her here:
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