Wimbledon 2018: Four picks from Wednesday’s action in SW19

Mihaela Buzarnescu to beat Katie Swann 2-0 – 8/11

Buzarnescu has enjoyed a great year to date and has taken some big scalps. She has continued her form on the grass courts with five wins over top 50 opposition in her two tournaments before Wimbledon including another straight sets win over the top five-ranked Elina Svitolina (emulating her two-set victory over Svit at Roland Garros this year). She took down last week’s Eastbourne finalist Aryna Sabalenka in round one here and we feel she will have too much for the up-and-coming Katie Swan.

Julia Goerges to win 2-0 vs Vera Lapko – Evens

This year’s WTA ace leader fired down another 16 aces in her two sets win over Monica Puig in round one, whereas Lapko had a more difficult first round experience needing to come back out on day two to get past Christina McHale 7-5 in the third set. For someone with such big weapons Goerges has a surprisingly poor record at Wimbledon (never made it past round 3) and at 29 she mightn’t have much time to put that right. With her side of the draw opening up very nicely this is probably her best chance for a long run and we’re backing last year’s season-ending WTA Elite Trophy champion to get past Lacko in two sets.

Victoria Azarenka to beat Karolina Pliskova – 11/8

Match of the day no doubt. Pliskova hasn’t looked in great touch this grass swing and she came into Wimbeldon with only two wins from her two tournaments played on the surface this year and struggled to get past a determined Harriot Dart in round one. She has yet to make it past round two at Wimbledon and we’re backing Aza to keep that run going this year. Aza has had her own struggles and had a medical timeout for her right strapped during her straight sets win in round one, but backing her as a decent outsider to get over the job done versus the Czech.

Lukas Lacko +8.5 games vs Roger Federer – 8/11

Lacko showed great form making it all the way to the Eastbourne final last week and followed it up with a four-set win over Benjamin Bonzi in round one. We like the look of him to win enough games to cover the line versus the greatest of all time. Interestingly Federer only won by more than this handicap once in his six completed matches at last year’s Wimbledon, which was in the demolition job over Marin Cilic in last year’s final.