Thursday Wimbledon Picks | Siniakova vs Tsurenko, Kenin vs Wang Predictions
Xinhua News Agency/Getty. Pictured: Sofia Kenin.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, it's been raining a lot in England. So much so that the first round isn't halfway done yet through the two days allotted for its completion.
It's going to be a hectic few days to wrap the week up at Wimbledon.
For the second rounders we do know are taking place though, there is value to be had and poor numbers to exploit. Let's delve into a pair of them from the women's draw.
Match times are subject to change. Read here for advice on viewing Wimbledon matches.
Wednesday Wimbledon Picks
Katerina Siniakova (-150) vs Lesia Tsurenko (+126)
11:35 a.m. ET
It's been Lesia Tsurenko's best season in a long while, as the Ukrainian has worked her way up to No. 60 in the world. Now an all-court kind of player after years as a hard-courter, I like her chances here against Katerina Siniakova in the second round. Though she seems perpetually hurt, it's not nearly as bad as Siniakova at the moment, who complained about fatigue last week in Bad Homburg, had a pretty nasty injury in Miami she's still only a few tournaments back from and took three medical timeouts in her opening match against Qinwen Zheng.
The form may be there for the Czech, but I have to wonder if that form hasn't hampered her physical ability to keep the win streak going.
Not to mention, Tsurenko is a totally different player than someone like Zheng. The young woman from China has one gear: see ball, hit ball. There's not a lot of rally tolerance, not a ton of point construction and plenty of free points to be had. Tsurenko bases her game on the total opposite. Rock solid consistent, physical play from the baseline, in addition to flatter hitting, excellent pace re-direction and working the outer thirds of the court with aplomb.
With Siniakova potentially banged up and coming off a long week (something she hadn't done since her retirement in Miami) and Tsurenko excellent at making things physical on court, this is a prime opportunity to back the dog.
Pick: Tsurenko ML (+126 via FanDuel)
Sofia Kenin (-215) vs Xinyu Wang (+175)
12:20 p.m. ET
For one favorite to back in the women's second round, I'd look to American Sofia Kenin. She's been on an absolute tear in London over the past week and matches up pretty well with the big-serving Xinyu Wang.
One of the game's better counterpunchers when she isn't spraying unforced errors, Kenin is still trying to work her way back into the fold as one of the world's better players after some real struggles over the course of the last year to 18 months.
Her win over fellow American Coco Gauff is nothing to sneeze at, and though the quality of competition wasn't great in qualifying, she tore through that draw, winning all three matches in straight sets and keeping her opposition to three games won or fewer in all six sets.
As for the matchup, she's the better mover for my money, better defender and against a less-than-stellar returner in Wang, her serve should hold up decently. The fact that her counterpart in this one also tends to battle bouts of inconsistency could very well help offset one of Kenin's weaknesses.
Finally, we know the 24-year old has no issue playing big servers and ball strikers. As a counterpuncher, she actually plays some of her best tennis against them. We saw her take Elena Rybakina to a pair of tiebreaks at Indian Wells (a tournament the Kazakh would go on to win), keep Victoria Azarenka to a one-break margin of victory in Melbourne and shock the tennis world by beating Aryna Sabalenka in Rome.
Needless to say, Wang isn't near the level of any of those women just yet – even on quicker courts that reward her power.
I'll take Kenin to keep her momentum on the grass going and lay the games.
Pick: Kenin -3.5 games (+104 via DraftKings)
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