Wimbledon Final Betting Tips

<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2rem;">Wimbledon Final Betting Tips: Statistical volatility points to Djokovic, maybe</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 700;">The metrics in this final are hard to fathom, writes Jack Houghton, who thinks an in-play strategy is likely the best route to profit...</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">A difficult task</span></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">For the second grand-slam final running, my brief - to provide an in-depth statistical look at previous head-to-head matches of the finalists, identifying value bets in the match's side markets - has been scuppered by how few times the finalists, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Novak Djokovic</strong> (<b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="1/4"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.26</span></b>) and <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nick Kyrgios</strong> (<b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="7/2"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4.7</span></b>), have played each other.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj558ySxAVyQnpP4aYj6cSoPzMxapk17tVBNASbEJrLAVi3WkQbKt-wc5dPFPbZK3Ir6geNLg1M9ktoTvCNPbFkf4JE8ynS8Iv_sSe2PY7dkA0S1URqjKmI1N5orJIxNztojLJ93uR3zbUtkdqVA9jqcxMI6NYE7X3XWrZ7l_Hf9hZHuciCiBH0exbW" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="594" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj558ySxAVyQnpP4aYj6cSoPzMxapk17tVBNASbEJrLAVi3WkQbKt-wc5dPFPbZK3Ir6geNLg1M9ktoTvCNPbFkf4JE8ynS8Iv_sSe2PY7dkA0S1URqjKmI1N5orJIxNztojLJ93uR3zbUtkdqVA9jqcxMI6NYE7X3XWrZ7l_Hf9hZHuciCiBH0exbW=w640-h428" width="640" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Two matches in 2017, amounting to four sets, is <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">all that we have</strong>. Kyrgios, surprisingly, won both in straight sets. The four sets themselves were all relatively keenly contested, producing <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">two tie breaks</strong>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">We might surmise, then, that backing <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Five Sets</strong> at in the Number of Sets market was the way to go, or that we should ignore the Match Odds market and focus on <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3-2 score lines</strong> in the Set Betting market.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">That might all well be wise, but I'll be honest, it's hard to know where to start when it comes to pricing up those markets or <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">determining value</strong>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">A few key statistics can point us in the right direction, though.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Statistic 1: Djokovic is my far the better player, even now</span></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Much of my pre-tournament previewing in recent seasons has focused on the <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">decline of Djokovic</strong> and his generation of fellow greats. Indeed, prior to Wimbledon I revisited the subject again, highlighting that the ease of Djokovic's draw gave Djokovic a chance at Wimbledon that his recent form didn't warrant.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">That view has been borne out by the <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">obscurity of those players</strong> Djokovic has beaten to reach this final. Aside from tennis devotees, few would have recognised the names of his opponents before the semi-finals, and even then, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cameron Norrie</strong> was hardly a household name before the tournament began.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Nonetheless, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Djokovic is a far better player than Kyrgios</strong>, who has somehow navigated the more torrid half of the draw to find himself in the final.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">According to my ratings, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Djokovic </strong>should be around <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="2/13"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.15</span></b>, with <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kyrgios </strong>a <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="7/1"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">8.0</span></b> shot. If looking at grass-only figures (not the most reliable approach, given the reduced sample size of matches, but nonetheless interesting) the gap widens furthers in Djokovic's favour.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">And yet there's that <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">head-to-head record</strong>: two matches, both going Kyrgios's way.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">It's a strange matchup, then. The <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">declining force versus the accidental finalist</strong>. And this strangeness is compounded by the volatility of Kyrgios.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Statistic 2: Crucial second-serve statistics point to Djokovic, sort of</span></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="entry_body__widgets" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="widget-context widget-context--both" data-context="both" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">As explored before, the <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">most important metrics</strong> when looking to explain tennis performance are the percentage of second-serve service points won, and the percentage of second-serve returns won.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">In other words, the game boils down to how well you can hold up when your serve is under pressure, and how severely you punish your opponent when they find themselves in the same situation.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">On both metrics, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Djokovic is the model of consistency</strong>. Second serves delivered and returned, he nearly always wins more than half, and is often up in the high 60s percentage-wise.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Kyrgios, on the other hand, produces metrics whose <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">inconsistency is hard to fathom</strong>. It's not unusual for him to excel - with second-serves delivered and won in the high 70s, for example - but for that figure to drop 30% in the following match.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="WIMBLEDON MEN'S SINGLES TROPHY.jpg" class="mt-image-center" height="721" loading="lazy" src="https://betting.cdnppb.net/tennis/WIMBLEDON%20MEN'S%20SINGLES%20TROPHY.600x338.jpg" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px auto 20px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;" width="1280" /></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Statistic 3: First serves might well be an early indicator</span></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kyrgios's inconsistency</strong> is replicated in his first-serve statistics. His ace count can be extraordinary, winning nearly 30% of his points through aces, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">especially on grass</strong>. These are figures that Djokovic could never replicate.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Much like the rest of his game, though, that service dominance can rapidly disappear for Kyrgios, and might prove the best early indicator of which Krygios has turned up in the final: <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the possible winner, or the self-destructive caricature</strong> of a fiend.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Verdict</span></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Having to recommend a bet in this final before it starts is difficult. So, it is no more than a <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">tentative recommendation</strong> to back <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Djokovic to win 3-0</strong> in the <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Set Betting market</strong> at <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="7/4"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2.7</span></b>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">More dynamic advice is to <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">watch Kyrgios's first service game</strong> intently. If those first serves start firing immediately, he may well be the value bet.</span></p>

Wimbledon Final Betting Tips

Wimbledon Final Betting Tips: Statistical volatility points to Djokovic, maybe The metrics in this final are hard to fathom, writes Jack Hou...

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WTA Wimbledon Singles Final Tips

<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2rem;">WTA Wimbledon Singles Final Tips: Jabeur primed to lift the trophy</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 700;">Saturday afternoon at Wimbledon sees the women's singles final between Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur take place. Dan Weston returns to preview the championship match...</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jabeur proving she's an elite grass-courter</strong></h2><div><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pre-tournament second favourite <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ons Jabeur</strong> has finally confirmed the form lines which she's shown in non-Slam tournaments - the one doubt surrounding the Tunisian prior to Wimbledon - by reaching the final, although Elise Mertens at 30th in the world is the highest ranked player which she's faced.</span></p><blockquote style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0.75rem 1rem; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; hyphens: auto; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">However, all Jabeur can do is beat the players put in front of her, and she's done that in emphatic style.</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the tournament so far, she's holding serve 85% of the time, and breaking 40% - <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">elite numbers indeed</strong> - and these back up similar numbers accumulated over the last two years on grass. She really is a top-level grass-courter.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Competitive match anticipated by the market</strong></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Those numbers are why Jabeur is a pre-match favourite for the final, against <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Elena Rybakina</strong>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Kazakh impressed by getting past <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Simona Halep</strong> in the semi-final, in straight sets, and this was Rybakina's second underdog victory of the tournament, after defeating Bianca Andreescu in a tight two-setter in round two.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At the time of writing, the market pricing has Jabeur as the <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="5/7"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.71</span></b> favourite, with Rybakina at <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="11/8"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2.38</span></b>, so <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">a competitive match is anticipated by consensus</strong>. I'm not so sure I agree on those market prices.</span></p><div class="entry_body__widgets" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="widget-context widget-context--both" data-context="both" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Return effectiveness likely to decide outcome</strong></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Firstly, Jabeur has much better grass court data over the last couple of years. She has a 2.5% edge on service points won, and almost 5% on return, and those are big differences which should indicate that <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">she should be shorter-priced for this match</strong>. Jabeur has also won 8% more games on grass during this period - these are not small edges.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">While Rybakina has managed to level out that service advantage this season on grass, Jabeur has won 8% more return points, and <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">this should be where the match is lost</strong> - while both players have strong serves, Jabeur simply has a much more effective return game, consistently winning more return points and breaking opposition much more frequently.</span></p><blockquote style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0.75rem 1rem; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; hyphens: auto; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In a match where both players are strong servers, this should be the difference.</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My numbers have Jabeur priced up as a fair bit shorter than the current market line, so my final recommendation for the women's singles at SW19 is for <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jabeur to be lifting the trophy on Saturday</strong>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgXvuX8Asd73Tjsiv-ufsZbL37NM29oSjn7kMHSR22Sfq06gSB2_DvAn5K9LAeDddt_-AvYUNncURoUmiXC9mBxjrpsr5M2XOAn0FI_5Li2Ws3iAR3tfujST-Nlso1ImaH8SUGFGCS8iE63P0DSamnaWSO2jU4xhBuLlsQTpJZn0w9vXQ7bMoHRojg1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="728" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgXvuX8Asd73Tjsiv-ufsZbL37NM29oSjn7kMHSR22Sfq06gSB2_DvAn5K9LAeDddt_-AvYUNncURoUmiXC9mBxjrpsr5M2XOAn0FI_5Li2Ws3iAR3tfujST-Nlso1ImaH8SUGFGCS8iE63P0DSamnaWSO2jU4xhBuLlsQTpJZn0w9vXQ7bMoHRojg1=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><p></p></strong></div>

WTA Wimbledon Singles Final Tips

WTA Wimbledon Singles Final Tips: Jabeur primed to lift the trophy Saturday afternoon at Wimbledon sees the women's singles final betwee...

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WTA Wimbledon Semi-Final Tips

<p><span face="Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #161616; font-size: 2rem;">WTA Wimbledon Semi-Final Tips: Strong and justified favourites in both matches</span></p><p><span face="Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 700;">Focus at Wimbledon on Thursday is the women's semi-finals, where there's guaranteed to be a first-time Grand Slam finalist. Dan Weston returns to give his thoughts on the two clashes...</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Grass-court specialist Maria far beyond previous achievements</strong></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At 34 years of age - and turning 35 next month - <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tatjana Maria</strong> probably thought her chances of Grand Slam glory were long gone. The German veteran had never made it into the top 40 of the world rankings, and had <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">never progressed past the third round of a Grand Slam</strong>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In fact, Maria had only made that stage once - a straight-set defeat as a heavy underdog seven years ago at SW19.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That at least does hint at some form of ability on grass, and that hint would be correct. <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maria has won a main tour event (Mallorca, 2018) on the surface</strong> and also won two ITF events on grass too.</span></p><blockquote style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0.75rem 1rem; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; hyphens: auto; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We can excuse her loss in the other ITF event final - it was against former world number one Ashleigh Barty!</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Considering her consistently lowly ranking, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maria's record on grass is reasonable enough</strong> - she's won well over 50% of matches and is running at around 100% combined service/return points won - far better than her record on all other surfaces.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She's a grass court specialist</strong>, and she's shown it here, although I don't think anyone will have thought this run to the semi-finals likely.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Elite Jabeur should end Maria's dream run</strong></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite all that, Maria can still be an ultra-heavy underdog at <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="6/1"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7.2</span></b> to beat Ons Jabeur (<b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="2/13"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.15</span></b>) in the semi-finals because the level that Jabeur has shown on the surface over the last couple of years is absurd.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Tunisian has won over 90% of matches, with a combined service/return points won percentage around the 112% mark. With anything over 110% considered elite, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">there's no doubt in my mind that Jabeur is an exceptional player on grass</strong>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Particularly on return, there's likely to be a big difference in the abilities of the two players, with Jabeur breaking opponents <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">12% more on grass</strong> in the last two years.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Throw in <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jabeur's strong serve</strong> - holding over 82% on the surface during the same time period - and you start to see why Maria is priced up at the current market lines. This should be the end of her dream run.</span></p><div class="entry_body__widgets" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="widget-context widget-context--both" data-context="both" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Halep's return game the difference</strong></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The second semi-final is a fascinating clash between Elena Rybakina and Simona Halep, following their victories on Wednesday in the later batch of quarter-finals.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Halep saw off the threat of the American, Amanda Anisimova, while Rybakina fought back from dropping the opening set by defeating Ajla Tomljanovic in three.</span></p><blockquote style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0.75rem 1rem; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; hyphens: auto; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On grass this season, there's a big statistical difference in the two players.</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rybakina, whose grass numbers show <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">a big serve-oriented dynamic</strong>, has better serve numbers, winning just over 2% more service points and holding 83% of the time, which illustrates the challenge Halep will face on Thursday - she will need to dominate on return.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That's something which she's more than capable of. She's won <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">12% more</strong> return points than Rybakina on grass this year, which is quite some difference.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In fact, Halep has broken opponents more than they've held on grass in 2022 - <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">an incredible achievement</strong>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The last meeting between the two players was a very return-oriente<strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">d match at the US Open last year, </strong>where both players struggled to hold serve, and Halep will be keen to drag Rybakina down to that level tomorrow.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Her return ability is why she's favourite at <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="4/11"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.36</span></b>, and Rybakina (<b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="11/4"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3.7</span></b>) will need to <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">serve superbly</strong> to cause a shock and to reach her first Slam final on Saturday.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKeIGdvE0C4zSjZ6Rkv1a8TCRFHoLI5ytWUFqXLM_Q-tX7iPykpOmPgETokvmiLzGBKYoNEPSuLdu1DdxX53M-oq_UwCaNNRGie3kRZP9heqYZnWA0yme3tI3HsYHp1sPlCYsW1va5ef9xsPeIkFrBcTco4ZG5hwjzimQLP-4d6VtVjTQQjfxedKEv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="728" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKeIGdvE0C4zSjZ6Rkv1a8TCRFHoLI5ytWUFqXLM_Q-tX7iPykpOmPgETokvmiLzGBKYoNEPSuLdu1DdxX53M-oq_UwCaNNRGie3kRZP9heqYZnWA0yme3tI3HsYHp1sPlCYsW1va5ef9xsPeIkFrBcTco4ZG5hwjzimQLP-4d6VtVjTQQjfxedKEv=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><span face="Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fbfbfb; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></p>

WTA Wimbledon Semi-Final Tips

WTA Wimbledon Semi-Final Tips: Strong and justified favourites in both matches Focus at Wimbledon on Thursday is the women's semi-finals...

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ATP Wimbledon Quarter-Final Tips

<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2rem;">ATP Wimbledon Quarter-Final Tips: Nadal and Kyrgios set for final four</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 700;">Quarter-final matches in the men's singles at Wimbledon continue on Wednesday, with two players heavy favourites to make the semi-finals. Dan Weston sees if they can be beaten...</span></p><p class="Body" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 18pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kyrgios likely to ease past Garin</span></strong></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Both <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Christian Garin</strong> and <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nick Kyrgios</strong> won dramatic five-setters on Monday, with Garin shocking Alex De Minaur in a final set tiebreak after losing the first two sets in a match lasting over <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">4.5 hours</strong>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kyrgios had to fight to defeat the talented young American, Brandon Nakashima, but his five set match took an <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">hour and a half less</strong>, so simply from a fatigue perspective, the Australian goes into this match with the advantage.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Any follower of tennis will know this isn't the only advantage which Kyrgios possesses for this match-up.</span></p><blockquote style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0.75rem 1rem; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; hyphens: auto; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He's simply the better <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">grass-court player</strong> by an absolute mile, with Garin doing his best work on clay generally - for him to get to this stage is an unbelievable achievement.</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Over the last 24 months on grass, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kyrgios has won over 11% more service points</strong> and that's where this match-up is likely to be decided - his serve is likely to be too consistent for the Chilean on Wednesday. The current Exchange market agrees, pricing up <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kyrgios at <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="1/4"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.24</span></b>.</strong></span></p><p class="Body" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 18pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fritz's serve and Nadal's return to decide quarter-final</span></strong></p><div class="entry_body__widgets" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="widget-context widget-context--both" data-context="both" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The other heavy favourite on Wednesday is<strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Rafa Nadal</strong>, who has a different dynamic to Kyrgios as one of the best returners on tour. He's <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="2/5"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.39</span></b> to move beyond <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Taylor Fritz</strong>, who continues to impress on grass - he's a fast condition specialist who is improving.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">F</strong><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ritz beat Nadal</strong>, surprisingly, in slower conditions at Indian Wells in March when Nadal was priced at around the <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="1/5"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.20</span></b> mark, so the market is giving the American an even greater chance today to shock the <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">King of Clay</strong> and make the semi-finals.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The match should be decided by Fritz's serve and Nadal's return; over the last 24 months on grass, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fritz has held serve 89% of the time</strong>, but he won't have faced many players of <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nadal's calibre and ability on return</strong>.</span></p><blockquote style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0.75rem 1rem; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; hyphens: auto; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nadal is <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">breaking opposition over 30% of the time</strong> in this tournament so far, so this is evidently the key battle for this clash.</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I have Nadal slightly shorter - around the <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="1/3"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.35</span></b> mark - but it's not a huge discrepancy on the market pricing, so as is often the case towards the <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">business end of Slams</strong>, I'm in broad agreement with the Exchange at the time of writing for both matches on Wednesday.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHJpxFz2VbH7yp0WvBPta-7g7i4ZSOv0nGw2YVToqgnBMVOPGSOsEXh0CxBfSYaw4v69gDNzaZJ1LBn0s7n1knt6E8-OUquVCx5dOcUQ5fnUCbnpC__5R298CvJJF-gj23EJnhR1JJ45SQwLynFrX-Te8ZmgiU4dGBOW4kAj0LkC4eIG3ixIUZ5mTj" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="728" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHJpxFz2VbH7yp0WvBPta-7g7i4ZSOv0nGw2YVToqgnBMVOPGSOsEXh0CxBfSYaw4v69gDNzaZJ1LBn0s7n1knt6E8-OUquVCx5dOcUQ5fnUCbnpC__5R298CvJJF-gj23EJnhR1JJ45SQwLynFrX-Te8ZmgiU4dGBOW4kAj0LkC4eIG3ixIUZ5mTj=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><p></p>

ATP Wimbledon Quarter-Final Tips

ATP Wimbledon Quarter-Final Tips: Nadal and Kyrgios set for final four Quarter-final matches in the men's singles at Wimbledon continue ...

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WTA Wimbledon Quarter-Final Tips

<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2rem;">WTA Wimbledon Quarter-Final Tips: Underdog Tomljanovic can stay competitive</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 700;">The remaining two matches from the women's singles at Wimbledon take to the courts on Wednesday, and returning to preview them is Dan Weston...</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Impressive Halep short odds</span></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">For me, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the pick of the quarter-finals</strong> takes place on Wednesday, with Simona Halep taking on Amanda Anisimova. The Romanian, Halep, is a solid <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="40/85"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.48</span></b> favourite to make the semi-finals, and prior to Monday's action, I'd have been keen to question this line.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">However, Halep produced her best performance of the tournament in her fourth round match on Monday by beating Paula Badosa for the loss of just three games, and she's a similar market price against the American prospect, Anisimova, in the quarter-final.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Anisimova's journey to this stage, however, has been <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">impressive</strong>. She got the better of <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cori Gauff</strong> in round three, before easing past the giant-killing <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Harmony Tan</strong> on Monday - showing none of the problems against Tan which other players have had in this tournament.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">The duo met in the quarter-finals of the Bad Homburg warm-up tournament several weeks ago, with Halep picking up a dominant 6-2 6-1 victory, but was priced up at around the <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="5/7"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.70</span></b> mark for that particular meeting - hence why I was initially <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">surprised </strong>at the market line for this match on Wednesday.</span></p><blockquote style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0.75rem 1rem; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; hyphens: auto; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Over the last two years on grass, Halep does have a big advantage though, with a markedly <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">higher service and return points won percentage</strong> - so it's pretty tricky to dispute the market right now.</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Anisimova has talent, though, so don't be surprised if she puts up a much better fight than she did in Bad Homburg.</span></p><h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Tomljanovic will be competitive</span></h2><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="entry_body__widgets" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="widget-context widget-context--both" data-context="both" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">The other semi-final is, in theory, a little lower-profile in terms of the names involved. <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Elena Rybakina</strong> is a <b class="inline_odds" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;" title="4/7"><span class="inline_odds__decimal" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1.57</span></b> favourite over <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ajla Tomljanovic</strong>, with both being pretty competent grass-courters.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">The lower-ranked Tomljanovic eased through the first couple of rounds, but has <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">dropped the opening set</strong> against higher level opposition in the last two, and Rybakina should be a further upgrade in opposition quality - and this is the <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">biggest pre-match price</strong> which Tomljanovic has been so far in this event.</span></p><blockquote style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #161616; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0.75rem 1rem; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; hyphens: auto; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Rybakina is yet to drop a set in the event so far, arguably against better opposition, so has impressed en route to this stage albeit with numerous tight sets to her credit.</span></p></blockquote><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Of her eight sets she's played, her best set margin is 6-3. She's won three tiebreakers and three 7-5 sets, which indicates that she's had the better of the key points in those previous matches.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is a polarised battle of Rybakina's better serve but more limited return game compared to Tomljanovic on grass, and while I do think Rybakina should be favourite here, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the match was pretty <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">competitive</strong>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">It's not something I'm hugely strong on, but if I was forced to get involved with this match, I'd be looking at Tomljanovic +3.5 games on the game handicap market at a shade of odds-on with the Betfair Exchange.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Noto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFO1HXEZb7JygLfHc70DUH060BtxUVC3nEg2ubrEhLwaxBnrdL4pgM6Yt38TWJVOeXrjVlaHwm7lBD0m4plPJl9BBYjbQgDQZx6SreuhC6JDaonBrC0lctDRy6mUpyyikQParQBb7BoUJIC7Fq8Kv_4rRrtyBo1fAfYojYWI9Gc6g_i6Lait7lATXy" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="728" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFO1HXEZb7JygLfHc70DUH060BtxUVC3nEg2ubrEhLwaxBnrdL4pgM6Yt38TWJVOeXrjVlaHwm7lBD0m4plPJl9BBYjbQgDQZx6SreuhC6JDaonBrC0lctDRy6mUpyyikQParQBb7BoUJIC7Fq8Kv_4rRrtyBo1fAfYojYWI9Gc6g_i6Lait7lATXy=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><p></p>

WTA Wimbledon Quarter-Final Tips

WTA Wimbledon Quarter-Final Tips: Underdog Tomljanovic can stay competitive The remaining two matches from the women's singles at Wimble...

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