After a dramatic opening day of action at SW19 on Monday, the first round draws to an end at Wimbledon on Tuesday when the rest of the draw is played out on the lush grass courts.
After wins for Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on Monday it is the turn of Andy Murray to reply on Tuesday as he begins his quest for a second Wimbledon title. He is the headline attraction on the second day but it is a day which also sees Serena Williams begin her title defence along with other stars such as Petra Kvitova, Stan Wawrinka and Agnieszka Radwanska all in action.
Monday Recap
It wasn’t the best of opening days for us with two of our three bets falling by the wayside but there is plenty of time in this tournament to get that back which is a positive.
Away from our bets there were no major top 10 shocks in either draw but we did lose some seeds. Kevin Anderson, Philipp Kohlscreiber, Gael Monfils and Pablo Cuevas all hit the dust in the men’s draw and it was much the same in the women’s side of things too where all the major players came through largely unscathed but we lost seeds in the form of Ana Ivanovic and Irina Begu.
There were some wonderful stories for the Brits on the opening day as the world number 772 Marcus Willis saw off a man ranked over 700 places above him in the world in Ricardas Berankis. Dan Evans was the other Briton to win on Monday but there were hefty defeats for the likes of Kyle Edmund, Laura Robson and James Ward.
Centre Court
As is tradition the defending ladies champion gets the action underway on the main court on Tuesday when Serena Williams takes on Amra Sadikovic before the all-British clash between Andy Murray and Liam Broady. The match of the first round then takes place as Caroline Wozniacki goes up against Svetlana Kuznetsova in a match which should be a draw for much later in the tournament.
Court 1
Former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka opens up on Court 1 when he faces the up and coming America player Taylor Fritz and then the British number one steps onto court when Jo Konta faces Monica Puig for the second time in this grass court season. Former winner Petra Kvitova concludes the schedule on this court when she plays Sorana Cirstea.
Court 2
Once again if you have a ticket for Court 2 you’ll be treated to some decent action as Nick Kyrgios takes on Radak Stepanek first up before Fernando Verdasco plays Bernard Tomic for the second London tournament in a row. Agnieszka Radwanska follows them when she plays Kateryna Kozlova and then the British number 2 Heather Watson looks to move into the second round when she plays Annika Beck of Germany.
Court 3
There are some good matches on this court too beginning with Richard Gasquet taking on Britain’s Aljaz Bedene before Alison Riske goes up against Roberta Vinci. Dominic Thiem meets Florian Mayer in what should be a cracking match and then Timea Bacsinszky goes up against Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand for a place in the second round.
Best of the Rest
Court 12 wouldn’t be the worst place to be on Tuesday as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin del Potro, Eugenie Bouchard and Kiki Mladenovic will all be in first round action while on Court 18 the Eastbourne champion Dominika Cibulkova starts her quest for the Wimbledon title. John Isner, Marcos Baghdatis and Tomas Berdych are all in action there too.
Betting
I’m going with a few bets on Tuesday in the hope of getting some profit out of the first round and kick starting the tournament betting wise. As with the French Open I’m ducking the truly big names for this round because the handicaps offer little value and we saw why once again with the likes of Garbine Muguruza on Monday who needed three sets to come through.
In the men’s draw I can’t ignore the big serving Jiri Vesely against Igor Sijsling. Vesely might not be the most talented player known to man but he has the Dutchman covered and the big serve and heavy ground weapon that Vesely has can power his way past a Sijsling who has suddenly gone right off the boil.
The match between Rajeev Ram and Feliciano Lopez is just screaming tie-breaks out to me and as such I think the 36.5 game line is a little on the low side there. If that isn’t a three setter and with Lopez beginning to flatter to deceive it might not be then I don’t see how this doesn’t cover in a serve dominated match but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see three extended sets even if it is won in straight sets. Overs looks solid there.
Bernard Tomic met Fernando Verdasco at Queens’ a couple of weeks ago and beat him and I fancy him to do the same thing on Tuesday. He did need three sets to beat the Spaniard but the longer the match went the more comfortable he became and I’m expecting something similar here. I’m surprised the handicap is only 3.5 games. While Verdasco might win a set I fancy Tomic will cover that in the end.
Moving into the women’s draw and I love the overs between Jo Konta and Monica Puig, the two ladies who lost at Eastbourne last week in the semi-final. These two met in Nottingham earlier in the month in a match which went the distance with Konta winning in a tie-break. I’m expecting another close tussle between two women in excellent form so I’m on over 21.5 games there.
Finally Alison Riske has been good to me in previous Slams this year and having won a Challenger event on the grass and made the final in Nottingham the American comes into this tournament in excellent form. She takes on Roberta Vinci in a match I fancy her to win. Vinci might be seeded sixth in this tournament but she hasn’t won more than two matches in a tournament since March. That US Open run is heavily affecting her ranking. She isn’t that good and I expect Riske to prove that.
Tips
WON – Back J.Vesely to beat I.Sijsling for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
Back R.Ram vs F.Lopez – Over 36.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
Back them here:
Back B.Tomic (-3.5 games) to beat F.Verdasco for a 4/10 stake at 1.87 with Bwin
Back it here:
Back A.Riske (-3.5 games) to beat R.Vinci for a 4/10 stake at 1.86 with NetBet
Back her here:
Back M.Puig vs J.Konta – Over 21.5 games for a 5/10 stake at 1.91 with Winner Sports
Back it here:
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