Wimbledon moves forward with second-round play on Thursday, even as some men’s and women’s first-round matches also take place. The first-round matches will either begin or resume at 6 a.m. Eastern time, 11 in London, so that’s where we’ll pick up our tennis picks. We’ve already seen some upsets so far but we had a productive day with our tennis picks. We went 2-0 as our weather-delayed matches finally took place. We still have Milos Raonic going today as his matchup with Andrea Seppi should finally get through today. However, we already cashed with John Isner, who took care of Marco Baghdatis in straight sets, and we also won with Mikhail Youzhny, who needed four sets to finish Horacio Zeballos.
Later in the day on Thursday (all of these matches are either third or fourth on the given order of play for that particular court on Thursday), you will see the second round develop once the first round has been completed. Here are three second-rounders on the Thursday card along with our tennis picks for those showdowns.
Dominic Thiem vs. Jiri Vesely
There is a chance that Vesely could threaten Thiem. Vesely, if you do not know him, beat Novak Djokovic in the Monte Carlo Masters a few months ago. He will occasionally have the kind of match in which his aggressive game translates into results. He used the drop shot to great effect, and he takes a lot of chances. When his shots are going in, he can threaten the best players in the world. However, that aggressive and ambitious style isn’t very sustainable for Vesely. He has a hard time playing at a high level for a long period of time. His best tennis usually comes and goes in brief flashes. It doesn’t stick around. For this basic reason, the more consistent player, Dominic Thiem, should get the advantage.
One other reason Thiem should win this match is that he just got through with a convincing takedown of Florian Mayer, who won the Halle ATP 500 tournament in Germany a week and a half ago. Thiem had lost to Mayer in the semifinals of that Halle tournament, leading a number of people to pick Mayer in the rematch at Wimbledon. Thiem’s ability to win that match shows that he’s ready to get some work done at Wimbledon and advance a number of rounds in the draw, very realistically as far as the quarterfinals. Take Thiem with your tennis picks here.
Pick: Thiem in four sets
Dennis Novikov vs. Joao Sousa
This is not a sexy match, but it’s a match in which Sousa should give betters a good option. Sousa is not a high-level grass-court player, but Novikov is ranked 145 in the world, whereas Sousa is the No. 31 seed in the tournament. When there’s a ranking difference over 100, the fact that the higher-ranked player is playing on his weakest surface ceases to mean something. Sousa is not that accomplished a player on grass, but he should have enough of a baseline – a basic standard of competence – which is much higher than Novikov’s best tennis. Sousa on an average day is better than Novikov on a moderately above average day. Everything has to go right for Novikov to win. Sousa just needs to avoid being bad, and he should win. Novikov would have to play incredibly well to pull off the upset. Sousa is the better choice for your tennis picks.
Pick: Sousa in four sets
Benoit Paire vs. John Millman
This is a matchup in which Paire is in trouble. He’s seeded at 26, but he has never liked Wimbledon and came extremely close to losing in the first round. Millman is not an exceptional grass player, but he has enough feel in his shots that he can withstand Paire’s world-class backhand. Take Millman in what really doesn’t feel like much of an upset at all. No one should be surprised if Millman wins. He’s our choice for our tennis picks in this spot.
Pick: Millman in four sets
