Wimbledon Tips: Day 5

Day 5: Feature Previews

Aljaz Bedene v Gilles Muller

Muller had to dig deep to get it done against Rosol with everyone bar The Wolf surprised that he struggled. He will have his work cut out for him again against Bedene. Muller has won both of their prior meetings including their most recent a few weeks ago in the Netherlands – a tough 3 setter. Muller has never made the 4th round here and Bedene is on song. He beat Karlovic in an epic in the opening round, a match in which they traded 4 breakers before he prevailed 8-6 in the 5th. Based on that alone we are set to see multiple breakers here and if anyone is going to break serve it is Bedene. Muller has had a lot of matches over the last few weeks and a long 5 setter will have taken some of the sting out of his 34 year old body. The start on offer for Bedene is huge and The Wolf has him winning outright.

Best: Bedene +3.5 ($2.00)

Steve Johnson v Marin Cilic

Last night former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic said that in his pre-tournament predictions he had Cilic ahead of both Murray and Djokovic and just behind Roger and Nadal. He must have be a fan of The Wolf as he couldn’t agree more. Wolfy tipped us Cilic a fortnight before the tournament and he is right on track. He is yet to drop a set and has been completely dominant behind his first serve. He had 31 aces against Mayer in his last match and one of the weakest aspects in Johnson’s game is his return. With losses to Kohlschreiber, Kozlov and Medvedev on grass this season The Wolf says he will be no match for Cilic.

Best: Cilic -5.5 ($1.73)

Rafael Nadal v Karen Khachanov

The 10 time French Open champion looms as the biggest threat to Federer and has now won 26 of his last 27 matches! He leads the tour with 45 wins and continues to dominate his opponents. He now meets Khachanov – a young man with a big game and many think that he could trouble Rafa as he has a similar game to Kyrgios and Brown, two men that have beaten Rafa here. The Wolf couldn’t disagree more! The Russian is coming off two very tough matches (5 and 4 sets) and has consistently relied on his serve to get him out of trouble. He will not be able to rely on it against Rafa who is winning close to 50% of points on return. Khachanov would need to make in excess of 70% of his first serves to keep this close and The Wolf says that just isn’t going to happen!

Best: Sets Nadal 3-0 ($1.62)

Andy Murray v Fabio Fognini

The defending champ has breezed through the opening two rounds but this shapes as a very tricky encounter for the world number 1. He is 3-3 lifetime against Fognini with the Italian crushing him 6-2 6-4 when they met in Rome earlier this year. Two of Fognini’s wins have come on clay but he did take a set off Murray in their most recent meeting on a hard court at the Olympics last year. Murray will be aware of his record against Fognini on clay and the Italian will come into this with a considerable amount of confidence. He has generated 11 breaks of serve in his opening two matches which is in fact more than Andy. He can get hot and when he does it will be on his racquet. If he get hot for 20 minutes he will be winning a set and that makes the Over a great bet.

Best: Over 29.5 games ($1.83)

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Sam Querrey

Tsonga may lead the H2H 4-1 but don’t let that stat line fool you. In 3 of those victories the first set was settled by a breaker and the other was a 5 set thriller here back in 2014. On that occasion it was Tsonga who prevailed 14-12 in the 5th. Both men posses big serves and Tsonga will not be winning this one in straight sets. It makes Over 43.5 games the bet of the day. Querrey has fired down 46 aces already this tournament in just 7 sets while Tsonga is yet to have his serve broken. We could see a repeat of their clash in 2014!

Best: Over 43.5 games ($1.85)