Wimbledon heats up in a big way on Wednesday, when the second round is headlined by an all-Italian showdown featuring Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini. Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev are also in action on the men’s side. On the women’s side, Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu are taking the court, while we have a few games to finish as well due to some rain delays. It promises to be an action-packed day at the All-England Club and we have our Wimbledon best bets for the Day 3 schedule. Let’s dive in.
Ben Shelton ML over Lloyd Harris (-130)
There are a number of reasons why Ben Shelton’s price is being deflated: 1) he has not been in great form this summer, 2) he is playing on back-to-back days after finishing his first-round match against Mattia Bellucci on Tuesday, and 3) Lloyd Harris has won 12 matches on grass already in 2024. However, none of that should be a problem. 1) Shelton is a relative novice on grass and should be getting better and better with each match (he played very well in the last 2 sets against Bellucci when the match resumed to win in 5); 2) playing 2 sets is basically the equivalent of a hard practice session, so it’s not like the American will be overly fatigued; 3) all of Harris’ grass-court wins — except for a 5-set thriller against Alex Michelsen on Monday — have come in qualifying or at the Challenger level. The South African has also taken some bad losses on grass in recent weeks. The reality is that Shelton should be a bigger favorite.
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Dayana Yastremska -1.5 games over Varvara Gracheva (-110)
There is no reason to overthink this one; each woman has been professional dating back to 2016 and Dayana Yastremska has won 21 grass-court matches in her career (including 1 over Mirra Andreeva last week in Bad Homburg) while Varvara Gracheva has won 4. Yastremska is simply the better player on grass — and in 2024 she has been the better player in general. The Ukrainian made a run to the Australian Open semifinals, so she knows what she is doing on the biggest stages in tennis. Gracheva advanced to the fourth round of the recent French Open, which is why her stock is inflated. The French player, whose Roland Garros run came to an end at the hands of Andreeva, is obviously nowhere near the same player on grass as she is on clay. There is great value on Yatsremska as a small favorite.
Parlay: Ugo Humbert ML over Botic van de Zandschulp and Jasmine Paolini ML over Greete Minnen (-117)
The men’s match in this parlay is a straight fade of Botic van de Zandschulp. Ugo Humbert is not playing as well as he was last fall and in the early stages of this year, but Van de Zandschulp was thinking about retiring from tennis a few weeks ago — that’s how bad the Dutchman has been in 2024.
Now to the women’s game — Jasmine Paolini was the runner-up to Iga Swiatek at the French Open last month, but — unlike Gracheva — the Italian is no clay-court specialist. She won a WTA 1000 title on hard courts in Dubai near the beginning of the 2024 campaign and she can also play well on grass. Paolini is 3-1 on the green stuff this summer with a victory over a red-hot Katie Boulter and a competitive 3-set loss to Daria Kasatkina. She should be able to take care of business against Greete Minnen.