After two heavily rain hit days the Wimbledon 2016 schedule is really falling behind where it needs to be so everyone involved in the tournament will be hoping the rain relents on Thursday so that the event can begin to catch up but even at this stage it looks like the middle Sunday will need to be utilised.
There are still 14 first round matches left to be completed and across the two singles draws only two second round games have been finished when half of each draw should be done by now. That’s how far behind things are already.
Wednesday Recap
It was a third frustrating day in a row for us and our bets as we missed out on the Tomic handicap by one game which was all the more annoying given how he just sacked off the fourth set on Tuesday before the rain came and just as irritatingly Monica Puig couldn’t hold on to the break of serve she created and that over fell two games short.
On the flip side Jiri Vesely came through in straight sets so we have something to build on. The three bets we took in Wednesday’s action never made it out of the locker room apart from Gilles Simon and Grigor Dimitrov playing half a dozen points or so which means we already have interest in Thursday’s schedule.
Away from betting there were straight set wins for Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the two second round matches that were completed with Federer ending the dreams of Marcus Willis on Centre Court. Agnieszka Radwanska, Belinda Bencic and Eugenie Bouchard came through first round ties on Centre while on the outside courts Alexander Zverev and Tomas Berdych were among the few who managed to beat the weather to get their first round matches finished.
Centre Court
The order of play for Centre on Thursday begins with Kei Nishikori taking on Julien Benneteau in a match you’d expect the Japanese to win. Andy Murray is then back on court to take on Yen-Hsun Lu in a match he should win before the match of the day on this court when Eugenie Bouchard takes on Jo Konta in a mouth-watering second round clash.
Court 1
Grigor Dimitrov and Gilles Simon will try again first up on Court 1 on Thursday before Garbine Muguruza takes on Jana Cepelova in a match moved from one of the outside courts from Wednesday. Dominic Thiem finishes the action on this court when he faces Jiri Vesely, one of just three men to beat Novak Djokovic so far this year.
Court 2
Dan Evans and Alexandr Dolgopolov will begin on Court 2 with their first set in a tie-break and then Simona Halep takes on Francesca Schiavone in a match which was probably worthy of being on an even bigger court than it has ended up on. Bernard Tomic follows them when he faces Radu Albot and then Agnieszka Radwanska plays Ana Konjuh.
Court 3
This court sees one of the remaining first round matches up first when Timea Bacsinszky takes on Luksika Kumkhum before Milos Raonic meets Andreas Seppi. Belinda Bencic will look to back up her excellent performance on Wednesday when he faces Julia Boserup of the USA and then finally there is a doubles match involving the Williams sisters.
Best of the Rest
If you have a ground pass for Thursday then the rain so far this week has played right into your hands with the likes of Heather Watson, Marin Cilic and Richard Gasquet out on Court 12 while Kiki Mladenovic, Angelique Kerber, Venus Williams and Dominika Cibulkova are all in action on a female only Court 18!
Also dotted around the complex are Madison Keys, Carla Suarez-Navarro, Sam Stosur, John Isner, David Goffin, Jelena Jankovic and David Ferrer so there is plenty to enjoy on the minor courts as long as the rain stays away.
Betting
With three bets still to run going into Thursday I’m not going to go too mad especially in the men’s draw where we’ve got players backing up matches from Wednesday which is never going to be easy but there is one bet I like and it comes on the minor courts where Benoit Paire takes on John Millman.
We all know grass isn’t really Paire’s surface and he did a pretty good impression of someone who doesn’t want to be on it when he took on a relative unknown in the first round, eventually coming through 10-8 in the final set. Millman was taken the distance in the first round too although at least Albert Montanes was recognisable even if he’s nothing special anymore.
Millman had an excellent first serve percentage of 71 in that win over Montanes and did it an hour quicker than Paire won his match. Given that Paire isn’t one for this surface I’m happy to be on Millman there.
The rest of my bets on Thursday come from the women’s draw where I really like the 5.5 games that Kirsten Flipkens is getting from Madison Keys. There is no doubt that Keys is one of the best players in the game and her monster serve is a real weapon but she can lose control of both her game and her emotions from time to time.
Flipkens is a real grass court performer. We saw that a few years ago when she made the semi-finals of this tournament and we were reminded of that in Mallorca a couple of weeks ago where she made the last four and had none other than Garbine Muguruza among her victims.
Credit where it is due to Keys who won the Birmingham tournament and she may well win this match too but a 5.5 game line just looks a little high. In winning that Birmingham tournament the only time she covered this line was in the second round against someone ranked outside the top 100. I’ll take Flipkens to stay close if she doesn’t win.
The final match on Centre Court really does look a tasty one between Eugenie Bouchard and Jo Konta. Bouchard looks to be hitting the ball really well again while Konta never knows when she is beaten and chases every ball down so I’m expecting a really tight clash.
This is their first meeting so we don’t have any previous form to go on but we do know both women are top quality so I don’t see this being a one sided blowout. I can see a couple of deep sets here if not three sets so the 21.5 games line is within reach there.
Tips
WON – Back J.Millman to beat B.Paire for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Bet365
Back him here:
WON – Back K.Flipkens (+5.5 games) to beat M.Keys for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Boylesports
Back her here:
WON – Back E.Bouchard vs J.Konta – Over 21.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfred
Back it here:
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