Our tennis tipster Andy Schooler looks ahead to Friday's action at Wimbledon with his best bets.
Daily tennis betting tips: Wimbledon
0.75pt Fabio Fognini to beat Roberto Bautista Agut at 9/5 (General)
0.75pt Gael Monfils to beat Grigor Dimitrov at 11/4 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power)
Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook
Roberto Bautista Agut v Fabio Fognini
There are several matches on Friday’s order of play in which the favourites may well be tested to the full.
Jan-Lennard Struff has beaten Daniil Medvedev on grass before, while a similar thing can be said about Alexander Bublik ahead of his clash with Tommy Paul, who has struggled so far to replicate his title-winning form from Queen’s.
However, I decided I couldn’t back both Bublik and Fognini on the same day – these are two of the most combustible players on the ATP Tour – and I’ve ended up plumping for the Italian.
I have no argument about Bautista Agut being favourite in this match – he’s a former Wimbledon semi-finalist after all and a decent sort on grass.
But neither can I have Fognini at 9/5.
He comes in off a confidence-boosting victory over top-10 star Casper Ruud, a win which perhaps wasn’t the biggest upset given the Norwegian’s record on grass, but a decent one nonetheless.
RBA has won more matches on the surface this season but he also brings a poor head-to-head record to the table.
Fognini has won nine of their 12 previous meetings and while none of them has come on grass, that’s a significant mental advantage to bring to the court.
I believe this will again be a match largely contested from the baseline and that should suit Fognini given his record.
RBA has lost his serve only twice in two rounds so far but he’s faced 19 break points in total. Saving them so often looks unsustainable and Fognini has shown in the past that he is capable on return in this match-up.
A small bet at the price looks worth a try.
Grigor Dimitrov v Gael Monfils
There’s another notable head-to-head record in this contest with Monfils 4-1 up – Dimitrov’s only ‘win’ coming via a first-set retirement - yet the flamboyant Frenchman a big outsider at 11/4.
OK, they haven’t met since 2016 but I don’t agree that means the record is irrelevant.
Monfils has actually won 10 of the 11 completed sets they’ve played and that suggests to me that Dimitrov has a problem dealing with his game.
Monfils comes into this clash off the back of a straight-sets victory over fellow veteran Stan Wawrinka, a match in which he held serve throughout.
Significantly, the majority of that one was played on Wednesday, whereas Dimitrov’s five-set win over Jerry Shang took place on Thursday.
The Bulgarian won’t have too much recovery time ahead of this one and having played for three and a half hours the day before is far from ideal for the 33-year-old.
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