The Wimbledon tennis tournament, which had been bogged down over the past few days, almost fully caught up with an expansive day of play on more than a dozen courts. There are some women’s second round matches to be played on Friday, but later in the day, the third round will get underway. That’s where we’ll pick up our tennis picks.
Looking back to yesterday, though, we had a relatively successful day, going 2-1 with our tennis picks. Our lone loss on the day was Johanna Konta, who couldn’t get past Canadian Eugenie Bouchard. They split the first two sets before Bouchard moved on thanks to a 6-3 result in the third set. As for our two wins, we did cash in with Aggie Radwanska, who struggled with Ana Konjuh. The match went to the third set before Radwanska outlasted her 9-7. Our other win came from CoCo Vandeweghe, who handled Timea Babos rather easily. Babos only won five games in total.
Simona Halep vs. Kiki Bertens
This is a matchup in which Halep faces a stiff challenge. Halep might be the No. 5 seed, but that should be of little consolation to her. She has lost virtually all of her Grand Slam matches over the past several tournaments to lower-ranked players. In four of her last five Grand Slam tournaments, Halep has failed to make the quarterfinals. The only exception was the U.S. Open last year, when she made the semifinals. Halep has made a habit out of getting tagged by a comparatively less accomplished player, so this match sets up well for Bertens. The Dutch player made the semifinals of Roland Garros a few weeks ago. Had she not carried around an injured calf, she might have been able to beat Serena Williams and advance to her first Grand Slam tournament final. Bertens played Serena closely on that day, and she also gave Serena a fight at the 2015 U.S. Open in the second round. Bertens is rapidly maturing into a genuinely tough player on all surfaces across all tournaments. She was not intimidated when playing a Grand Slam semifinal against Serena, so she certainly won’t back down against Halep. This feels like a very close match, the kind that will be 6-4 in the third set. Bertens will find a way to close it down and win. Take her with your tennis picks.
Pick: Bertens in three sets
Lucie Safarova vs. Jana Cepelova
This is a matchup which was supposed to have involved second seed Garbine Muguruza, but Cepelova upset the reigning French Open champion. Cepelova has now beaten players ranked first, second and third at the time of the match. She beat Serena a few years ago when the great champion was ranked number one in the world. She beat Muguruza when the French Open winner was ranked second. She knows how to seize certain moments. However, she has not yet tackled the next task that’s part of being a top professional, which is to follow one good win in one tournament with another in the next match. Cepelova is ranked outside the top 100, which shows she hasn’t been all that consistent. Safarova very nearly lost in the first round, but after surviving a test from Bethanie Mattek-Sands, she should be confident enough to take care of a lower-ranked player. Take Safarova with your tennis picks.
Pick: Safarova in three sets
Alize Cornet vs. Madison Keys
This is a match which pairs two players who played long matches on Thursday. Keys, though, played a three-setter, and Cornet played a 7-6, 7-5 straight-setter. However, the two sets in Cornet’s win over Sara Errani were long sets. Cornet and Errani played a clay-court-style game on grass. They are better on clay than grass, and they settled into a long series of slugfests. Keys plays much shorter and quicker points, and her win on Thursday came against a player (Kirsten Flipkens) who likes to rush the net. Keys did not play a grueling match, and that should really help her win here.
Pick: Keys in straight sets
