Wimbledon: Week One Preview & Tips

More seeded players could be in trouble on day two of Wimbledon with a couple of clay-court specialists on the men’s side vulnerable to early exits.

The British contingent could also see their number reduced with Harriet Dart facing a tough test from Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan while her compatriot Xinyu Wang will need to be at her best when up against in-form Viktoriya Tomova.

Tip 1 - Roman Safiullin to beat Francisco Cerundolo @ 4/5

Francisco Cerundolo looks like he could be an early casualty among the men’s seeds given he has shown no form whatsoever on grass before.

The Argentinean clay-court specialist has been ranked inside the top-20 in the world a couple of times in the last year and gave Novak Djokovic a good game in the fourth round of the French Open.

Roman Safiullin, meanwhile, has hovered between 44 and 39 in the world since his big jump into the world’s top-50 at last year’s Wimbledon, when he reached the quarter-finals.

He beat two seeded players during that epic run, Roberto Bautista-Agut and Denis Shapolovalov.

His victory over the Canadian in round four owed a little to the former Wimbledon semi-finalists’ knee injury flaring up, but a quarter-final run on his first visit to SW19 could be the platform for further progress this year.

Safiullin’s powerful groundstrokes and easy movement on grass should give him the edge over the Buenos Aires baseliner, who lost in the first round of the Queen’s Club and Eastbourne grass events.

Tip 2 - Constant Lestienne to beat Lorenzo Musetti @ 11/2

This would be a shock given Lorenzo Musetti is ranked significantly higher at No.25 than Constant Lestienne at No.92.

Musetti also has a better recent record on grass, with a 7-2 match record this season compared to Lestienne's 3-2.

But a closer inspection of those results suggests there is nothing too special about the Italian’s achievements on turf this year.

He beat qualifier Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in two tight tie-break sets at Stuttgart and then a local journeyman in round two before coming up against third-seed Alexander Bublik.

Bublik started strongly and went a set up before his serve completely collapsed and he withdrew after attempting to serve underarm.

Musetti then went out in straight sets, taking only four games, against the first decent grass-courter he faced — Matteo Berrettini.

He upset Alex De Minaur early on at Queen’s just a few days after the Australian had won in the Netherlands, but lost in straight sets to the next seed he faced.

Musetti’s serve is inconsistent and his single-handed backhand will be targeted by Lestienne, who is experienced enough to hang in there and let Musetti beat himself by going for too many outrageous winners.

Tip 3 - Bai Zhuoxuan to beat Harriet Dart @ 31/20

Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan has a consistent game that could prove problematic for British number two Harriet Dart on Tuesday.

Last year, the 21-year-old turned up at Wimbledon ready to play after coming through qualifying and beat Belgium’s Ysaline Bonaventure 7-6, 6-1 in round one.

She then lost to eventual runner-up Ons Jabeur in straight sets, but should have benefitted from the experience and appears ready to win main draw matches again.

Dart, who is ranked five places below her opponent, beat 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin at Eastbourne last week, but she was subsequently blown away by Leylah Fernandez in the quarter-finals and has found wins hard to come by at Wimbledon in the past.

In 2023, she suffered a disappointing early defeat to France's Diane Parry in three sets in what was her third opening-round exit at the All-England Club.

Bai beat Zarina Diyas, who reached the fourth round at SW19 twice before injury interrupted her career, in the final round of qualifying and may prove too solid for Dart to dismiss.

Tip 4 - Viktoriya Tomova to beat Xinyu Wang @ 13/10

Viktoriya Tomova’s world ranking has risen from 86 when the direct entries to Wimbledon were announced at the end of May to 48 on the eve of the tournament.

The Bulgarian reached the final of a WTA 125 event in Valencia on clay before coming through qualifying to make it to the semi-finals at the Bad Homburg Open on grass last week.

Tomova is bang in form and no stranger to causing an upset at Wimbledon either after defeating 27th seed Bernarda Pera in the first round last year.

She will seek revenge against the Chinese number three, who beat her in the French Open second round last month.

Last week, Xinyu Wang lost in the first round at Eastbourne to sixth seed Daria Kasatkina amid some serious struggles on her serve.

She was broken seven times in the match and got less than half of her first serves in.

Any repeat of that dreadful display would make her vulnerable to the in-form Tomova this week.