Wimbledon men’s 1st round: British stars’ chances of progression

Wimbledon 2015 has kicked off, and day two of the tournament sees a whole host of home hopes in the men’s draw, so Coral writers preview the action and rate their chances of progression from the first round.

While Liam Broady was the sole British male representative on day one of the Championships, there are five in action on Tuesday, with 2013 winner Andy Murray leading the line.

We have rated from 0 to 10 the following five Brits’ chances of reaching the second round, with the former being the lowest and latter the highest.

Mikhail Kukushkin v Andy Murray

This duo have only ever faced each other at the opposite end of the world, as they duelled twice in 2012, at the Australian Open and Brisbane International.

Murray (1/100 for victory) won on both occasions, though lost the opening set against Kazakh Kukushkin (14/1) in the latter event, so is a more tempting 4/1 chance to triumph 3-1.

Russian-born Kukushkin also took the opening set against Rafael Nadal in the third round of last year’s Wimbledon, and is a tempting 7/1 shout to do so again against the Scot, who recently claimed his fourth Queen’s title.

Murray’s chance of reaching the second round – 9

Alexandr Dolgopolov v Kyle Edmund

Wildcard Edmund (4/1) will be hoping to make it third time lucky, as he seeks his first main draw win at Wimbledon.

Unfortunately for the South African-born youngster, he is up against much-fancied Ukrainian Dolgopolov (1/7), who recently knocked Nadal out of Queen’s and reached the semis at Nottingham.

The home crowd could spur on Edmund, who reached the second round at the French Open before withdrawing from the event, but back Dolgopolov to win 3-2 at 6/1.

Edmund’s chance of reaching the second round – 3

Luca Vanni v James Ward

Tennis fans were gutted upon hearing the news that popular Spaniard David Ferrer had to pull out of this year’s tournament with an elbow injury, but section five, and James Ward in particular, will have shown a sigh of relief.

As a result of Ferrer’s absence, Ward (8/15 favourite) will now face lucky loser Luca Vanni (11/8) instead, and the Englishman has a great chance now of emulating his achievement of reaching the second round in 2012.

The duo have played against each other before, although way back in 2008, with Ward winning in straight sets, and he is 12/5 for a 3-0 victory.

Ward’s chance of reaching the second round – 7

Radek Stepanek v Aljaz Bedene

New Brit Bedene (5/4), born in Slovenia, has also never got past the first round of a Grand Slam in eight attempts, and faces a tough test against former SW19 quarter-finalist Stepanek (4/7).

The Czech veteran, 36, though, has not had much grass court preparation leading up to this event, so Bedene, over 10 years Stepanek’s junior, has a decent chance to cause an upset. The British number two is a 9/2 chance to win 3-1.

Bedene’s chance of reaching the second round – 5

Andreas Seppi v Brydan Klein
Another new British convert Klein, originally from Australia but has an English mother, will take the stage at SW19 on Tuesday, and he has the potential to cause a shock too against clay court specialist Seppi.

The Italian (heavy 1/8 odds-on favourite), though, has shown that he isn’t a one-court wonder, as he reached the final at Halle, losing out to Roger Federer, however he then lost early at Nottingham.

Wildcard Klein, 25, is an enticing 9/2 chance, though, given that he has already beaten the likes of Ward and Marcos Baghdatis on grass this season.

Klein’s chance of reaching the second round – 4