Wimbledon men’s round 2: British hopes Bedene & Ward on court on day 4
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While the top men’s singles seeds including main home hope Andy Murray are in action at Wimbledon, there are also a couple of other British representatives playing on day four.
Slovenian-born Aljaz Bedene faces a tricky test against Viktor Troicki, while James Ward clashes with Czech Republic youngster Jiri Vesely. Notable names Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Ivo Karlovic have intriguing encounters too.
Viktor Troicki v Aljaz Bedene
Serbia’s Troicki took the only previous meeting with his former Yugoslavian-born opponent in straight sets last year. That is why the 22nd seed is a firm odds-on 1/3 match favourite, and 11/10 to win 3-0.
Bedene beat Czech veteran Radek Stepanek in a topsy-turvy five-set first round fixture, which was more impressive than Troicki dropping one in a 3-1 victory over qualifier Aleksandr Nedovyesov, who switched allegiance from Ukraine to Kazakhstan last year.
What Bedene showed were battling qualities, and that’s enough to make his 10/3 price to stun Troicki worth considering.
A first-ever encounter between these two sees Ward hold odds of 6/4 to send the youngster home. Unlucky to lose a first set tiebreak in his opening victory over Luca Vanni of Italy, the Briton is 5/1 to come through another test in four sets here.
Vesely took two sets in his straightforward first round win 7-6, so a tasty 2-1 price says there will be further tiebreaks in the early exchanges between him and Ward.
Alexandr Dolgopolov v Ivo Karlovic
There’s a decade age gap between Ukraine’s Dolgopolov, who sent Rafael Nadal crashing out Queen’s in the first round last month, and Croatian veteran Karlovic. At 36, the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist is 11/10 to go the well once again and defeat the younger man.
Dolgopolov is out to make a name for himself, however, and he crushed British wildcard Kyle Edmund in straight sets to set up this Eastern European encounter. Odds-on at 4/6, there are better odds of 3/1 for a repeat of their only previous Grand Slam meeting, which Karlovic lost 3-1.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Albert Ramos-Vinolas
France’s 13th seed Tsonga is a potential last 16 opponent of Murray’s, and should make easy progress past Spain’s Ramos, having dropped just three games to him in their only previous head-to-head. Massively odds-on at 1/50 to make round three, Tsonga is better at 2/9 to one again rout Ramos in straight sets.
Coral betting tip: Be bold and back Bedene at a tasty 10/3 to come through this tricky Troicki test.
