Wimbledon, 3rd Round, Saturday, 08/07/2023
A really tight match will be on offer in the third round of Wimbledon on Saturday. Frances Tiafoe will meet Grigor Dimitrov. Both professionals have come through the tournament without losing a set so far.
The current opponents have already met three times, with the Bulgarian winning twice. Find out what bets are on offer for this clash in my Tiafoe Dimitrov betting tip.
Tiafoe and Dimitrov have come through the first two rounds flawlessly. The world number 24 in particular shone, not even having to go through a tiebreak against Sho Shimabukuro and Ilya Ivashka.
Against Shimabukuro, Dimitrov rushed through the first round in 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 and a good 90 minutes. Even the performance of the climate activists did not throw him off his stride.
In the second match, he was on court for a relatively short time against the Belarusian (6-3, 6-4, 6-4).
Dimitrov had 17 break chances in these games, did not concede any in round one – and only had to surrender two service games against Ivashka.
With only 46 per cent of points won after second serve, however, he has been quite vulnerable against Ivashka. He laid the foundation with the 49 out of 61 points won after the first serve.
On Saturday, the fourth match against Tiafoe awaits him in the last sixteen. The odds to win are almost the same in advance! Both players have been given a 1.90 by Bet365.
I think an outright 3:0 for one of the two strong servers is unlikely. Both stars are playing at a very high level on grass.
With 61 and 62 percent, the success rates on the fastest surface of the tour are also close to each other. Tiafoe has less experience on the green, but with 49 matches under his belt, he is no longer a greenhorn.
It is unlikely for the bettors that the match will end after three sets. For over 3.5 runs, Betano has posted a 1.37.
Five sets at this even level is also within the realms of possibility. At 3.10, the exact playing time of five runs is in an attractive range.
With two strong servers and an expected match length of at least four sets, a tiebreak should not be unrealistic either. But here, too, the odds of 1.35 are not particularly attractive.
Sports betting fans, on the other hand, will get strong overall odds if they access the Bet365 betting configurator. If you combine a set win for each player and over 0.5 tiebreaks, the result is already 1.72.
If you are not a fan of cobbled together bets, you could also take a look at Bet-at-home. Over 39.5 games also yields a 1.72. For slightly higher odds, bets could also be placed here on over 40.5 or 41.5 games.
In the first three duels, Dimitrov won twice. In 2018, the two players dueled on the hard courts of Toronto and Chicago. The first encounter featured two tiebreaks and three sets.
In Chicago, however, a month later, there was a quick 6-1-6-4 number for the Bulgarian, who is seven years older. The last match, however, was won by Tiafoe.
7-5, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 ended the round of 16 at Melbourne 2019, a result that sounds like only a few service games lost. But in fact, it was 31 break chances that both of them fought for in total.
My Tiafoe Dimitrov Tip
Tiafoe – like Dimitrov – did not drop a set in his matches against Dominic Stricker and Yibing Wu and completed his tasks in a rush. Both players will now need the strength in round three.
It is unlikely to be a quick three-set win between these two pros. I expect four to five sets. Already in two of the first three direct duels there were a lot of games.
I expect few lost service games and a correspondingly long Saturday. Therefore, my Tiafoe Dimitrov tip is: Over 39,5 games.
