Wimbledon Day 1 Tips

In the Ladies we really like the look of Francoise Abanda in her match up with Kurumi Nara. It’s a tough one on paper to call, with Nara the more experienced and higher ranked player, but there are enough reasons to think that Canadian Abanda can come out on top.

Those with long memories may recall Abanda reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon Juniors as a 15 year old in 2012. While she hasn’t shown the rate of improvement we might have expected, players are breaking through a little later these days, and it could finally be the year that she has grown enough and become strong enough to leave a lasting impression on the tournament.

She is also 7-6 up against Top 100 players over the past two seasons, while Nara is just 14-23 despite her higher ranking. Abanda also has a career 11-3 grass record, while Nara is just 18-22, and she hasn’t really made a mark on Nottingham or either of the lower Ilkley or Southsea warm-up events she opted to play.

Abanda is available at 5/6 in a number of places, and that looks worth taking before it shortens further.

Abanda to beat Nara at 5/6

Venus Williams has always enjoyed Wimbledon, and were it not for her sister, she would surely have collected far more titles here than the five she has. An 81-14 record at the venue shows just how impressive she is with her booming serve, and age shouldn’t be an issue in the early rounds where she can rely on her aggression to dominate opponents. A semi-final appearance last season here showed she’s still got the appetite and of course she made the final in Australia early this campaign.

Elise Mertens by contrast has yet to make it past the third round in a slap, and hasn’t yet won a match at Wimbledon. She’s a promising player of course, but we don’t expect her to be up to the standards required in this one.

Back Venus to win 2-0 is the advise here at 11/10 with Ladbrokes and a range of other operators.

Williams to win 2-0 v Mertens at 11/10

Our 3rd pick in the Ladies comes in the Brengle v Hogenkamp match up. There isn’t a lot to choose between the players, and the bookies are struggling to split them, but we reckon the American has the edge. She is 21-33 against Top 100 players over the past two seasons, and 3-5 on the same metric on grass only. Hogenkamp is a less impressive 8-18 and 1-4 on Grass.

Brengle has won both of their previous meetings, including one on grass last season at Hertogenbosch, where she went off a 4/7 favourite. Neither warmed-up for Wimbledon is great fashion –Brengle losing to Rybarikova in Ilkley last week and Hogenkamp losing in the 2nd round at Hertogenbosch and then in first round qualifying for Eastbourne.

Brengle to beat Hogenkamp at 4/5

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