Wimbledon men’s round three: Berdych, Federer and Tsonga feature
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Seven-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer is making waves in the men’s singles draw, showing age is no barrier at almost 34. Coral make the all-time Grand Slam great and Switzerland star 7/1 to be champion at the All-England Club again this season.
Fellow top seeds Tomas Berdych (33/1 title chance) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (50/1) are also in third round action alongside Federer on Saturday, July 4th. These top tennis pros all face different assignments.
Tomas Berdych v Pablo Andujar
Spanish player Andujar denied Berdych an all-Czech clash with compatriot Lukas Rosol by beating him in five sets. Former Wimbledon finalist prepares to face Andujar instead on grass for the first time, though leads their head-to-heads 2-1.
Berdych is massively odds-on to win this third round match at 1/33, but will be wary of his opponent, who upset him in Valencia last season where Andujar trained for many years. Sixth seed Berdych is unlikely to underestimate 10/1 outsider Andujar again, so is better at 3/10 to defeat him in straight sets.
Sam Groth v Roger Federer
Swiss Grand Slam great Federer dispatched Australia’s Groth, who boasts the quickest ever serve in history, 3-0 at last year’s US Open, and another easy victory is virtually assured here. Punters can once again enhance an odds-on 1/33 price on the second seed to 3/10 if you back the seven-time Wimbledon champ in straight sets. All signs point to this following two classy displays from Federer.
Gael Monfils v Gilles Simon
There’s an all-French affair between two of the ATP World Tour’s top 20 pros here, and 12th seed Simon has had the better of battles with his compatriot. Monfils, ranked just six spots below his fellow Frenchman coming into Wimbledon, is 5-1 down from their previous meetings.
Both men are rated equal 5/6 chances to advance to the last 16, but it’s much better value to back Simon for a repeat of their thrilling five-set classic from the 2013 Australian Open at 5/1.
Everyone expected Spaniard Nadal to be tackling tough Serbian player Troicki, but the unpredictable serve and volley tactic of Brown, who has Jamaican heritage but represents his motherland Germany, knocked the two-time Wimbledon winner out.
Troicki is odds-on at 1/2 to end Brown’s brilliant run here, but their head-to-heads sit at one win apiece. That makes the dreadlocks and drop-shots of Brown well worth siding with at 6/4, while another four-set victory is better at 5/1.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Ivo Karlovic
Veteran Karlovic, like Federer, shows no signs of slowing down after coming through a marathon final set decider against Alexandr Dolgopolov 13-11 on Thursday. As a result of that, and holding a previous victory on grass over Tsonga, he’s 6/4 to send the Frenchman home.
While Tsonga struggled against Gilles Muller in round one, he followed that up by crushing Albert Ramos-Minolas to set up this encounter, and is odds-on at 1/2 to progress. Giant Karlovic could do with getting the job done in straight sets against this opponent, but he’s failed to win comfortably at Wimbledon this year so far.
As three of the six sets of tennis these two have played before have gone to tiebreaks, it’s odds-on at 8/11 that the opener or second set will go the distance. Punters need to decide who they fancy here, and go with either Tsonga in four sets at 12/5 or Karlovic in as many (9/2).
The Wimbledon 2015 men’s singles draw is completed by an encounter between relative unknowns Nikoloz Basilashvili (11/4) and Roberto Bautista Agut (1/4).
