It will be the first time in 12 years that there has been play on Middle Sunday at Wimbledon 2016 and with all the tickets being sold within 30 minutes of them going on sale there is sure to be a decent atmosphere on all the courts.
Shock waves are still going around the SW19 complex after a crazy day on Saturday and after the rain of the week so far the committee will finally get the third round of both singles draws completed and get the tournament back on track on Sunday.
Saturday Recap
The biggest shock of them all happened on Court One on Saturday when Novak Djokovic hit the dust courtesy of Sam Querrey. We did hint that we expected it to happen in our previous preview but when Djokovic came out and won the first four games on Saturday it looked unlikely but Querrey regrouped to dump out the champion in four sets.
Andy Murray could be the chief beneficiary of Djokovic’s demise and he made it through in straight sets on Saturday as did the likes of Simona Halep, Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic, Kei Nishikori and Bernard Tomic.
There was another shock though out on the outside courts as the former champion Petra Kvitova was beaten in straight sets by Ekaterina Makarova. Elsewhere we saw the exit of Sabine Lisicki and there were wins for David Goffin, Alexander Zverev and Madison Keys.
It was a fairly decent betting day for us too with David Goffin safely covering his handicap and the first set of the Milos Raonic vs Jack Sock match going to a tie-break as we expected so we have some momentum to go into Sunday with.
Centre Court
Serena Williams is the headline attraction for those lucky enough to get one of the Centre Court tickets. She faces Heather Watson’s conqueror Annika Beck in the second match on after the rising American sensation Coco Vandeweghe takes on Roberta Vinci in the first match. The last game on Centre sees Zverev back on court when he takes on Tomas Berdych.
Court 1
Sloane Stephens takes on Svetlana Kuznetsova in a match which should be good to watch before Nick Kyrgios and Feliciano Lopez come out to finish their match which is tied at one set each when play was suspended. Jiri Vesely and Joao Sousa round off the action in the third match on.
Court 2
Timea Bacsinszky and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova start the action on Court 2 before John Isner and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga finish their match with Isner leading 2-1 in sets and then there are a couple of doubles matches to conclude things out on that court.
Best of the Rest
There are a few other singles matches dotted around the complex on Sunday mixed in with a lot of doubles but plenty for those with the knock down priced ground passes to enjoy. The likes of Ekaterina Makarova, Richard Gasquet and Juan Martin del Potro are among those playing around the outside courts.
Betting
There aren’t many matches on the schedule on Sunday but of those that there are I’m going to take two bets, one in the men’s draw and one on the women’s side of the draw and both of them come away from Centre Court.
Last up on Court 1 are Jiri Vesely and Joao Sousa and I think Vesely is a good thing in that match. He played some very nice tennis in beating Dominic Thiem in the previous round and I believe he can follow that up. He has a serve which is hard to read and doesn’t lack for power on his ground strokes.
Joao Sousa has risen in the rankings over the last couple of seasons but I don’t think he is anything like his best on this surface and he is bidding to do something he has never done before – make the second week of a Grand Slam.
Sousa has been broken eight times in this tournament already and if he serves as badly in this match he’s toast because he isn’t breaking Vesely that many times. On this surface I favour the Czech to come through and set up a clash with either Zverev or Berdych.
The women’s match I have got my eye on is the one between Ekaterina Makarova and Barbora Strycova where I’m a little surprised Makarova is a favourite. I get she has that lefty serve which can be difficult to face but her slide down the rankings highlight her inconsistencies.
Strycova has gone the other way. She has risen into the seedings and has breezed through the draw so far since dropping the opening set in the first round. Strycova is 2-1 up on the head to head although it is dated but she is a former quarter finalist here and at odds against I think she can go a step closer to a return to that stage of the tournament.
Wimbledon 2016 Day 6 Tips
WON – Back J.Vesely (-1.5 sets) to beat J.Sousa for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Boylesports
Back B.Strycova to beat E.Makarova for a 4/10 stake at 2.05 with Boylesports
Back them here:
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