Our tennis tipster Andy Schooler looks ahead to Monday’s action at Wimbledon with his best bets.
Daily tennis betting tips: Wimbledon
1pt Arthur Fils to beat Alex de Minaur at 16/5 (BoyleSports)
1.5pts Novak Djokovic to beat Holger Rune and both players to win a set at 6/5 (Sky Bet)
1.5pts Holger Rune over 1.5 breaks of serve v Novak Djokovic at 10/11 (bet365)
Arthur Fils v Alex de Minaur
I tried to take on De Minaur, to some extent, in the last round only for scheduled opponent Luas Pouille to hand the Australian a walkover.
New opponent means new prices, but I’m again of the opinion that De Minaur is too short.
Yes, he enjoyed arguably his best season to date and he’s transferred his strong form onto the grass, winning the title in Den Bosch.
He’s yet to lose a set in SW19 but he’s only played a couple of claycourters and this match will be considerably different against an opponent who has real weapons and won’t be afraid to goon the offensive.
Of course, De Minaur’s defence is much lauded but it was broken down when the pair met in Barcelona in April, Fils winning 48% of points on return as he posted a 7-5 6-2 win.
That match took place on clay but Fils has bedded in on the grass, posting wins over Dominic Stricker, title dark horse Hubert Hurkacz and Roman Safiullin so far.
That’s certainly a more impressive list of victories that De Minaur’s.
The Aussie has never been beyond this stage of Wimbledon before, which provides a potential mental hurdle, and Fils’ strong serve and big ground game can cause problems.
I considered backing him at 5.5 on the game-handicap but my worry there is his propensity to lose focus on occasions – he’s already lost sets 6-2 and 6-1 at this tournament. A repeat could ruin the bet.
I’m instead going to take a punt on him actually winning the match as I feel 16/5 represents some value.
As long-term readers will know, I’ve long expected big things from Fils and feel he has the talent to go much higher than his current ranking of 34.
The way he dominated that only previous meeting will give him confidence, as will his victories so far at the All England Club.
Let’s get with the Frenchman.
CLICK HERE to back Fils to win with Sky Bet
Holger Rune v Novak Djokovic
Previous meetings between these two have seen some real battles.
Djokovic leads the head-to-head 3-2 but Rune’s game has given him plenty of problems and both players have won a set in all five encounters.
Rune needed five sets to see off Quentin Halys in the last round which probably isn’t ideal preparation for this but Djokovic also struggled at times against Alexei Popyrin.
He needed four sets, as he did against British wild card Jacob Fearnley, and it’s fair to say the Serb still hasn’t found his A-game, something which has eluded him pretty much all season.
One suspects his greater grasscourt nous will play a significant part in this contest though and you have to feel the seven-time champion will come through, albeit Rune looks capable of making it another tough test.
Backing Djokovic to win and both players to win a set looks a good play at 6/5.
I also like a line in the sub-markets and that’s Rune to break serve over 1.5 times.
He’s managed that in four of those five previous meetings – and the majority of those have been best-of-three-set affairs.
Fearnley broke the Djokovic serve twice and if he can do it, then Rune’s considerably stronger returns can ensure he does too.
CLICK HERE to bet on Rune v Djokovic with Sky Bet
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