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Welcome to the free sports betting tips for June 27th, 2016.
It was one of the more quiet weekends in terms of sport if you’re not a huge football/soccer fan, as we had the Copa America coming to a close and the European Championships move into the knockout stages, with the quarter-finals set, after what was quite a disappointing weekend of games. Still, we have two more games to go in the the last 16, and, of course, we have our previews up for them, which you can find here:
England vs Iceland Preview & Tips.
Italy vs Spain Preview and Tips.
So, in the European Championships, we had Switzerland take on Poland in a shocking game, which saw Poland go through on penalties after it finished 1-1 in regular time. There was no need for extra-time, really, as both sides played it out for penalties. Then Wales took on Northern Ireland in yet another shocking game, which Wales won 1-0 after a Northern Irish own goal. But then we had literally the worst game of Euro 2016, as Croatia and Portgual played out a 0-0 thriller, with neither side having a shot on target in 90 minutes. Portugal won 1-0 in extra-time. Things picked up on Sunday, with Ireland almost pulling off a shock against France, but the hosts came back from 1-0 to do the business. Germany then outclasses Slovakia in a 3-0 route, which could have been more. Finally, Belgium beat Hungary 4-0, in another game that could have ended up in a cricket score. So, really, it was a weekend of two halves.
But now, you know what it means when summer comes, right? It’s only one thing, and that’s Wimbledon. Two weeks of the best grass court tennis, before Novak Djokovic probably wins another Grand Slam. Of course, 127 other men will try and stop him, and those big servers such as Isner, Karlovic, Muhat et all will be relishing the prospect of battering the ball down the lush green grass. Not that it matters much when the likes of Murray and Djokovic can return them with relative ease, but still, it’s time for the big servers to shine. So, because it’s the start of Wimbledon, I thought I would put up my tips for the first round matches in both the men’s and women’s draws, which take place over the first two days in London.
Wimbledon Betting Tips
There’s a lot of action to look at, but hopefully I’ve found some value to get us through the opening couple of days of tennis in London.
Dudi Seal to beat David Ferrer. It’s safe to say that David Ferrer is struggling, and his record on grass is really not great. His warm-up for Wimbledon hasn’t gone to play, while Dudi Sela had a decent run to the quarter-finals in Nottingham. Ferrer has played 3 games on grass, and won 1 this year, which was actually over Sela, which he won 6-4, 6-4. While not a banker, I like the value on the Israeli, as he’ll have a bit of confidence coming into this, while Ferrer just wants to get away from the grass courts asap.
Pablo Cuevas to beat Andrey Kuznetzov is a more obvious pick, with Cuevas reaching the final in Nottingham, taking some big scalps along the way. Cuevas’ serves was on fire all week, and he was returning exceptionally well against the big hitters, taking care of Gilles Muller along the way. Kuznetzov has played once on grass this year, losing to Ivo Karlovic in Halle, which isn’t ideal prep, and Cuevas’ serve, while not in the league of Karlovic’s, isn’t going to be easy for Kuznetzov to read.
Fernando Verdasco and Bernard Tomic over 3.5 sets, while not a huge price, is so likely it’s not even funny. In fact, it is likely to go 5 sets just because it’s Fernando Verdasco. When it comes to the Grand Slams, Verdasco loves to dig deep and is always involved in long matches. He should have enough to take a set from Bernard Tomic. Both men love the grass, and although I can see Tomic win, I think the Spaniard will nick at least one set.
Martin Klizan to beat Mikhail Kukushkin is what is going to be a game that goes under the radar on Tuesday. The game looks a coin toss on paper for me, and Klizan is a huge price considering they are so level on stats. Klizan has a 4-9 record on grass in his career, Kukushkin is 5-15 and is 2 years older. The one downside is that Klizan hasn’t had a warm-up on grass, but Kukushkin’s one game was a loss to Frank Dancevic in Nottingham, hardly a great prep. It’s purely a value bet here, as he definitely should be shorter than his current price.
Dominika Cibulkova to beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 2-0. Cibulkova comes into this after winning the Eastbourne title, and taking some big names down along the way, including top seed Radwanska. Lucic-Baroni retired after 1 set against Radwanska in the same tournament, so there are going to be question marks over her fitness.
