Tuesday Wimbledon Predictions: Bonaventure & Blinkova Have Betting Value
Pictured Alliance/Getty. Pictured: Anna Blinkova.
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We suffered a pair of blown leads for the women's article from Day 1 at Wimbledon, as Tereza Martincova led 6-3 before losing and Kamilla Rakhimova had four match points in the third set super tiebreak to bring home a nice plus money underdog winner before losing.
Let's look to offset those unfortunate losses with a pair of wins on Tuesday, as we look into the match between Ysaline Bonaventure and Zhuoxuan Bai, as well as the match featuring Yanina Wickmayer and Anna Blinkova.
Match times are subject to change. Read here for advice on viewing Wimbledon matches.
Wimbledon Predictions
Ysaline Bonaventure (-140) vs Zhuoxuan Bai (+115)
6 a.m. ET
I can't get past Bonaventure only being a slight favorite in this spot against a young player that has done very little above the ITF circuit.
In fact, this is just the fourth tournament Bai has played above the ITF level, and the three wins she amassed in qualifying? Against competition from that lower tour.
Without any real weapons to her game and a dearth of experience on grass courts, I struggle to see why the market believes in her this much. Her wins this season on grass? Against clay courters like Maria Lourdes Carle and Raluca Serban, or Brits that gained entry through wild cards like Anna Brogan and Maia Lumsden. It should go without saying that the quality of these kinds of opponents isn't anywhere near what she's likely to come up against in Bonaventure.
The Belgian is a tour veteran who has traditionally been at her best on indoor hard courts. She has a strong lefty serve with good groundstrokes that can pierce through the courts and take time away from her opposition.
In the last 18 months or so, she's also added a decent amount of rally tolerance to her game, improving her results on clay as well.
What's more, she's played dozens more matches against tour-level professionals over the course of her career than Bai.
I'll take her at -140 all day in this spot.
Pick: Bonaventure ML (-140 via DraftKings)
Yanina Wickmayer (-135) vs Anna Blinkova (+110)
11:30 a.m ET
What a month Wickmayer has had on the lawn courts in Britain. Another Belgian with a penchant for success, Wickmayer took down one of the more prestigious ITF Tour events in Surbiton as a qualifier, reached the quarterfinals of the 125K event in Gaiba, Italy and then came through qualifying to reach the main draw.
She's a testament to how far a big serve and forehand can take you on grass against weaker competition. The problem for her? There's very little else to her game.
She doesn't move well at all, isn't a great returner and a smart player that takes the ball early and works her side to side around the court should find plenty of success.
That's where Blinkova comes in. Armed with a decent serve of her own and the ability to dictate play and hit through open space from the baseline, the Russian should be able to exploit Wickmayer's weaknesses.
She's coming off a nice run to the quarterfinals in Germany, where she beat Sabine Lisicki and Leylah Fernandez before losing to Iga Swiatek – nothing to hang one's head over.
I'll take the younger, better player here at plus money.
Pick: Blinkova ML (+110 via DraftKings)
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