Wimbledon - Paire v Vesely

Frenchman Benoit Paire will be looking to extend his head-to-head advantage over Jiri Vesely to 3-0 when the pair meet in the 3rd Round on Friday. Their most recent meeting came on the hard courts from Pune, where Paire made light work of the task in front of him.

Almost 100 places split the pair in the world rankings now, and despite being a predominantly clay orientated player, Paire really should be the edge in this one. He benefited from a relatively short match against Miomir Kecmanovic, after the Serb retired after two sets. That ensured the players were only on court for 92 minutes.

Form wise, Paire is doing well – a fourth round at Roland Garros and a title in Lyon in May, adding to a Marrakech trophy from April. Although his 29-27 Grass record isn’t perfect, it should be remembered he was beaten by Juan Martin Del Potro at the last renewal here and Andy Murray in 2017.

Vesely is a much weaker player overall, and despite a decent grass record (28-16) I do’t see him having enough in this one. He did gun down Alexander Zverev of course in Round One which warrants respect. His 2014+ figures against Top 100 players reads 52-81 overall and 11-8 on grass, yet 1-10 on indoor courts which play very similar. On the same metrics, Paire reads 80-98 and 6-7 on grass (13-18 Indoors).

I’m taking Paire to edge this one out at slight odds-against prices with Marathon.

1pt Paire to beat Vesely at 68/67 (Marathon)

#Tennis