Wimbledon continues with play in the second round. The first round was fairly straightforward on the men’s side. The big guns all moved on. Andy Murray didn’t have many problems with his first match as he took care of Dustin Brown in three sets. Rafael Nadal also didn’t have to sweat too much as he turned aside American Donald Young. Marin Cilic also won in straight sets as he took out Florian Mayer. Kei Nishikori also moved on, even though he dropped one set to Sergiy Stakhovsky. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also pushed through as he didn’t have to work too hard against Simone Bolelli. Bolelli only won a total of eight games in the entire match.
The players who made light work of their initial matches have to be on guard that they don’t lose focus or get complacent in round two. Here is a look at the three matches we’re looking at betting on for Thursday.
Juan Martin del Potro vs. Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis is a former top-10 player, and a former Grand Slam semifinalist (who beat Roger Federer on the way at the 2014 French Open). Gulbis is now ranked at No. 589. Loss of motivation, injuries and overconfidence have resulted in his downfall. However, the good news is he is slowly climbing up. It doesn’t matter what people think of him. Gulbis has progressed to the second round of Wimbledon.
Gulbis beat Victor Estrella Burgos 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 in less than one and a half hours to reach the second round. It was Latvian’s first tour-level main-draw victory in over 13 months. Now, the bigger test in the form of Juan Martin del Potro awaits him in the round of 64.
Del Potro survived some tough moments before closing out Australian youngster Thansi Kokkinakis in four sets. The Tower of Tandil needed seven match points to shut him down. Del Potro won’t have as much trouble against Gulbis but he still has a match to win.
Pick: Del Potro in straight sets
Dominic Thiem vs. Gilles Simon
Dominic Thiem was on upset alert even before the tournament began. It’s a disrespect to a player who has won a tournament on the lawns (last year) and is a top-10 player. Thiem had a great clay season, where he was only second best to Rafael Nadal. Thiem has heavy groundstrokes which work on clay. On grass, he needed to make some adjustments. So, when he dismissed Vasek Pospisil, a former Wimbledon quarterfinalist, in straights sets in the first round, it came as a surprise. Many expected Thiem to win but not in such a routine fashion.
Gilles Simon started his Wimbledon campaign with a straight sets win over Nicolas Jarry, but he faces a stern test in the second round. Simon has not had a year to remember so far and it’s unlikely to change. He is a dismal 10-14 for the season and has a losing record against his Austrian counterpart, trailing 5-2 in the head to head. Wimbledon has always surprises in store but it’s hard to bet on Simon to produce an upset.
Pick: Thiem in four sets
Grigor Dimitrov vs. Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis, who sealed a victory after one hour and 40 minutes of action on Court 18 against James Ward, will face Grigor Dimitrov in the second round. However, it won’t be that easy against the 11th-ranked Bulgarian. They have contested eight matches but the Cypriot has tasted victory only once.
The Bulgarian 13th seed beat Diego Schwartzman in straight sets in his opening match. Dimitrov looks at home on grass. The same can be said about Baghdatis, who recently made the semifinals in Antalya but had to retire in the third set against Yuichi Sugita due to extreme beat conditions. Dimitrov also made the semifinals in his last grass tournament. Both have enough matches under the belt and are in good form. Hence, it’s a toss-up. However, if you need to pick a winner, go with Dimitrov because of more recent accomplishments and better performances at the Grand Slam events, such as the 2017 Australian Open, where Dimitrov made the semifinals.
Pick: Dimitrov in five sets
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