Liudmila Samsonova and Maya Joint square off in the first round of Wimbledon on Tuesday, July 1. The match will tentatively start at 4:40 a.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN.
Though we may not be looking at any of the top names in women’s tennis taking part in this contest, it’s probably one of the more intriguing matchups of the opening round. These two both enter in decent form, with Joint winning a WTA 250 title just last week in Eastbourne, while Samsonova had an excellent week in Berlin in her last tuneup for Wimbledon, reaching the semifinals.
Find my Wimbledon First Round preview and Samsonova vs Joint prediction for Tuesday below.
Liudmila Samsonova vs Maya Joint Prediction
- Samsonova vs Joint Pick: Samsonova -3 (-115)
My Samsonova vs Joint best bet is on Samsonova to cover the spread (-3). Make sure to find the best odds by checking our live Wimbledon odds page.
Samsonova vs Joint Odds
| Liumila Samsonova Odds | -200 |
| Maya Joint Odds | +155 |
| Over/Under | 21.5 (-115o / -125u) |
| Samsonova-Joint H2H | 0-0 |
| Time | How to Watch | Tuesday, 7:40 a.m. ET | ESPN, ESPN+, Tennis Channel |
| Odds via BetMGM. | |
Jon Reid's Samsonova vs Joint Preview, Prediction
Liudmila Samsonova Betting Preview
Though 2025 hasn’t been the best of seasons for the 26-year-old Russian, this is often the time of year that one can rely on Samsonova. Her first serve and front-foot tennis are both rewarded by the quicker and slicker grass courts.
Her ability to finish points swiftly also helps mask some of the more error-prone tendencies that come to the fore on other surfaces — and with her form on track after a nice run in the German capital, I’m happy to trust her against a less experienced opponent in the opening round.
Samsonova's grass Elo places her firmly inside the top 20 in the women’s game, and though Joint is coming off a title last week, her Elo is still outside the top 10 due to the level of the tournament.
Maya Joint Betting Preview
I’m not generally one to oppose the youngster, as I’m big on Joint's game and ability to combine a bit of pace on her groundstrokes with consistent depth and rally tolerance.
The problem is, we haven’t really seen her take the next step and prove herself consistently against stronger competition.
Winning a pair of titles on different surfaces in the same season at 19 years old is impressive, regardless of whether they were 250 events or not. That said, this is a big step up in quality and Joint may feel a little less comfortable against someone with top-tier power on a grass court.
Joint's time will come and I’m confident the foundation of her game is solid. That time just isn’t this week for me thanks to her tough draw.
Samsonova vs Joint Predictions, Betting Analysis
Possibly the biggest edge for Samsonova in this one is the gulf between the serves. As strong as Joint is on both the forehand and backhand wings, her serve still needs plenty of work.
Though the eye test would confirm as much, the data also tells a story.
Joint tends to find herself in a bit more trouble on serve than her opponent, winning at least 65% of points behind her first serve just half the time so far this grass season.
Samsonova, on the other hand, has averaged 73% of points won on her first delivery over the last year on grass and only dipped below the 70% mark once this year on the lawns.
Whether it’s experience, pedigree on the grass, being an established main tour pro or having the game more suited to succeed on grass, almost everything points to the big-serving Russian in this one.
Pick: Liudmila Samsonova -3
