Casper Ruud vs. Liam Broady
When a British fast-court player who is not afraid to play on grass is drawn against a European clay-courter who went deep at the French Open and skipped the entire grass court season leading into Wimbledon, you would more likely to pick the Brit in this scenario right? However, in this second round Centre Court match at Wimbledon between Liam Broady and Casper Ruud, we are going to go with the two-time French Open runner-up. This is not your grandfather’s grass courts and it is not as much of advantage for the fast court players against the clay courters. Remember, Ruud also got to the U.S. Open final last year on faster courts.
Andy Murray vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas doesn’t have a lot of time to recover mentally and physically from his fifth-set tiebreaker win late Wednesday over Dominic Thiem. To boot, beating an in-form, fit and highly motivated Andy Murray on Centre Court at Wimbledon is about as tough an ask as you can have. Murray wins this in four sets, but look for Tstisipas and girlfriend Paula Badosa to have some fun in mixed doubles and hopefully make a run.
Donna Vekic vs. Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens has the better resume in her match with Donna Vekic with a U.S. Open title and a French Open runner-up but Vekic is higher-ranked and a better UTR (12.64 to 12.43). Vekic has a runner-up showing in Berlin on grass under her belt and we think she will prevail here in three sets as she seems to be trending upward of late and benefitting from the wisdom given to her by her coach Pam Shriver, who has won a lot of grass court matches in her career. Vekic could make a nice run here this year.
