Wimbledon, 2nd round, Thursday, 04.07.2024, 17:30
The start of the tournament makes you want more! Alexander Zverev showed Roberto Carballes Baena the limits in the first round of Wimbledon. He advanced smoothly in three sets with five successful breaks. Will Germany also perform as well against Spain in the European Championship quarter-finals?
Zverev will continue on Thursday with his second round match against Marcos Giron. He will face the 30-year-old for the second time in his career and it will also be match number two at a major. In my Giron Zverev betting tip, I’m going for 3:0 at Bet365 for the German.
Even in my Zverev Carballes Baena betting tip, the outright success turned out to be a perfect bet
6-2, 6-4, 6-2 was the final score against Carballes Baena for Zverev, admittedly it wasn’t the toughest of draws for Germany’s tennis figurehead in London. After all, his opponent is definitely not known for his grass court tennis qualities with a win rate of 32 percent.
Zverev has a bigger challenge ahead of him in the second round. Giron is hoping for revenge for the Australian Open defeat in 2021, when Zverev lost the first round but improved and ultimately prevailed 3:1 in sets.
Zverev is again clearly favored on grass and is assigned a 1.09 by Bet365, while Giron is considered a big underdog at 6.00. A Zverev win bet is only really lucrative in the form of a 3:0 at top odds with the betting provider without tax.
The -1.5 set handicap for the reigning Olympic champion is at least a 1.30, a good combination option. With this bet, he should allow himself at least one set loss
However, he was far from that in game one. Carballes Baena managed just five break points in three sets, Zverev fended them all off and impressed with 80 percent of points won on his own serve.
At the same time, he won almost every other point in the American’s service games. It was a confident performance with few mistakes from the man who doesn’t feel at all comfortable on grass. He doesn’t like balls that bounce low or chip and charge, which is an important element in scoring points on the grass.
He has both the technique and, despite his height of 1.98 meters, the speed. His perfect tournament debut is once again reflected in his impressive service figures.
The player with the best rate of successful first serves played 74 percent successfully. 44 of the 51 points went into his account after the first serve
Again against Giron, I expect to see confidence in his own service games, the basis for bagging the sets. Before the tournament, Zverev only served at the grass court tournament in Halle to get himself up to operating temperature on the green surface.
He only conceded one break in four matches, giving him a current 2024 record of 13 sets played and one service game lost. And what about Giron’s current form? He played three grass court tournaments at Wimbledon.
With a win rate of 56 percent, he wins just as many matches as on hard court, his favorite surface. In Stuttgart, he had an easy game against Andy Murray, who had to cancel Wimbledon at short notice due to injury, but then lost to his compatriot and Stuttgart triumphant Jack Draper
In Halle, it went all the way to the semi-finals. Like Zverev, Giron also lost to Hurkacz. Giron had previously impressed with victories against Matteo Berrettini and Andrey Rublev. Nevertheless, the question remains as to how meaningful his successes against the big names are.
After all, Rublev lost his opening match in both Halle and Wimbledon, while Berrettini had a full week in Stuttgart under his belt after a two-month injury break. The doubts about Giron’s current performance were then confirmed in Eastbourne.
At the Wimbledon dress rehearsal, as in Stuttgart, he had to retire after just two rounds. His success against Argentina’s number two Francisco Cerundolo was followed by an exit against Yoshihito Nishioka.
At the Wimbledon opener, he had difficulties getting started and met a grateful opponent in Henry Searle. The 18-year-old Briton, ranked 539 in the world, received a wild card and shocked Giron by winning the first set
My Giron Zverev tip
The two-day break at Euro 2024 before the quarter-finals is bridged with a tennis match from Zverev. He didn’t show any weaknesses in round one and has only dropped one service game in the entire grass court season so far.
In the first duel against Giron, he lost the first set but then turned on the heat and didn’t give his opponent a chance. I see a clear advantage for Zverev ahead of this match due to his stability on serve.
He can hardly be touched in his service games on the fast grass. This allows him to put his opponents under pressure time and again.
At the same time, Zverev has a good defensive game, returned well against Carballes Baena and should also be able to get a foot in the door again and again with Giron, who is not the most exquisite server.
At the latest in possible tiebreaks, the advantage in the service qualities of the consistently playing Zverev should come into play.
Therefore, my Giron Zverev tip is: 3:0 for Zverev
