Just like that we have arrived at the prestigious second week at Wimbledon. And even though there was plenty of rain during the first 3 rounds, both the men’s and women’s singles competitions are entirely on schedule heading into fourth-round action. Among those taking the court on Monday are Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Alex de Minaur and Elena Rybakina. Let’s take a look at the Wimbledon best bets to be made on the Day 8 schedule at the All-England Club.
Yulia Putintseva ousted world #1 Iga Swiatek in the third round on Saturday. What will she do for an encore? My hopes aren’t high for a number of reasons. It’s never easy for anyone to follow up such a big result – in this case the biggest one of Putintseva’s career. Additionally, she had never done much of anything on grass prior to this summer. Heading into the 2024 campaign her lifetime match record on the greenery was 16-23, including 5-9 at Wimbledon (had never made it past the second round).
Jelena Ostapenko is a former major winner (Roland Garros in 2017) and advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2017 and the semis in 2018. It’s also worth noting that the Latvian has won 2 of the last 3 in this head-to-head series. Finally, Ostapenko is 6-0 in total sets so far at the All-England Club with convincing scorelines of 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 and 6-3.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard needed a lucky-loser spot in the main draw after falling in the final round of qualifying. It’s no fluke that the Frenchman finds himself in the fourth round. He is one of the biggest servers on tour and therefore a nightmare to play against on grass. Mpetshi Perricard’s run this fortnight includes an upset of Sebastian Korda, who is very good on this surface. He also beat Ben Shelton a few weeks ago at Queen’s Club.
GMP lost to Lorenzo Musetti in Stuttgart at the beginning of the grass-court swing, but that was a 7-6(9), 7-6(9) result; the margins could not have been smaller. That was the 20-year-old’s third grass-court match of 2024 and sixth of his career. He has played 10 more since then, winning 9 of them – experience that should not be underestimated. I believe Musetti will see a whole different opponent on the other side of the net compared to the one he beat in Stuttgart. The Italian is playing well, himself, but he would obviously much rather contest this matchup on clay than grass.
Danielle Collins has been awesome basically this entire year, highlighted by titles in Miami and Charleston. The American’s grass-court results had never popped off the page prior to 2024, but 3 wins under her belt in London should have her gaining plenty of confidence on the surface. A former French Open champion, Barbora Krejcikova can only wish this match was on clay.
As for the men’s leg of this parlay, Alex de Minaur owns a sizable advantage over Arthur Fils in both the experience and surface departments. Demon has twice reached slam quarterfinals and has now advanced to the fourth round 7 other times. The Aussie absolutely loves grass, too. He has won 50 matches on it during his career compared to Fils’ 10.
