Wimbledon Day 1 Picks (June 25th 2012)

The third Grand Slam of the season will be starting on Monday 25th June and I have my Preview of the tournament and Outright Picks here

Day 1 Picks:

Fernando Verdasco - 6.5 games v Jimmy Wang: First things first... Jimmy Wang has to have the best name on the ATP Tour.

Fernando Verdasco has never been a great grass court player, but I think he is going to be too strong for Wang and I would imagine he is good enough to get through in straight sets. Verdasco did have a poor showing at the French Open when beaten in the Third Round, but he does prefer the Grand Slam best of five set matches and I think he can take advantage of that here even if he starts off a little slow.

Wang has won three qualifying matches to get here so cannot be under-estimated, but he has not played that many matches against opponents of this level and I think that is what will find him out.

I'll be looking for Verdasco to win 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.


Ryan Harrison - 1.5 sets v Yen-Hsun Lu: Yen-Hsun Lu has previous at Wimbledon having knocked out Andy Roddick here in the past while also going as far as the Quarter Finals, but this could be a really difficult match for him against an opponent that has beaten him in their two previous meetings.

Ryan Harrison should have the tools to translate his game onto the grass courts effectively, and he did show he can really take it to some of the players on the Tour having pushed David Ferrer to five sets here at Wimbledon last season.

Harrison has also beaten Lu twice previously, as I have already mentioned, and that included a straight sets win last week in Eastbourne meaning he has won the last 4 sets contested between the players.

It will be a close match, but I can see Harrison doing enough to see off Lu, most likely in four sets.


Na Li - 5.5 games v Ksenia Pervak: I think there is a real chance for Na Li to have a good run at Wimbledon this season after the disappointing end to her defending her crown at the French Open last month.

Li has the groundstrokes and decent serve that will make her tough to beat on this surface and I she has history having beaten Maria Sharapova on the grass courts of Birmingham a couple of years ago.

It has been a tough twelve months for Li since she won the French Open, but that pressure may just have been released now that she has lost that crown and she may be able to get back on the horse effectively.

Ksenia Pervak won't be an easy test having reached the Fourth Round here last season, but Li managed to beat her 6-3, 6-1 in Australia earlier this season and I think the Chinese player will be a little too tough for her again.


MY PICKS: Fernando Verdasco - 6.5 games @ 1.95 Panbet (2 Units)
Ryan Harrison - 1.5 sets @ 2.40 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Na Li - 5.5 games @ 1.92 Pinnacle (2 Units)