It is men’s singles semi-finals day at Wimbledon on Friday and there are two fascinating clashes in store for bettors.
Jannik Sinner’s conqueror Daniil Medvedev takes on defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the first semi-final, then legendary veteran Novak Djokovic will be in action against surprise semi-finalist Lorenzo Musetti in the second of the last-four encounters.
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Alcaraz can dominate against fifth seed
Jannik Sinner didn’t have the answer to breaking down Daniil Medvedev in their Wimbledon quarter-final clash, but Carlos Alcaraz could enjoy more luck against the fifth seed in their last-four rumble.
Medvedev did a lot of things right against Sinner and that could serve him well when he takes on the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion. But the feeling is that Medvedev’s progression owed more to Sinner coming up short.
And considering Alcaraz has only recently taken his game to a new high, a push which enabled him to go all the way on the Paris clay, the Spaniard could be an even more complete performer on grass.
The third seed was a different level last season, when Novak Djokovic did well to win two sets against him in the final. But Alcaraz is the world’s best player right now, regardless of what the rankings might say.
Medvedev’s stats read well in his Sinner triumph, but overcoming Alcaraz is likely to be a different ball game and punters should be able to back the Murcian with confidence.
He is 3/4 with TalkSport Bet to successfully concede Medvedev a handicap start of 4.5 games and that looks the way to go.
Resilient Musetti no stranger to tiebreaks
Unsurprisingly, Djokovic is all the rage for his semi-final clash with Lorenzo Musetti but there’s a slight chance that it could be more competitive than many are anticipating.
Djokovic has the benefit of a quarter-final bye after his scheduled opponent Alex de Minaur withdrew due to injury and the seven-time champion, who single handedly took tennis to a new level in the wake of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, has lost only one match at the All England Club since 2017.
The Serbian is likely to be tough to beat, but Musetti deserves much credit for reaching the last four – his first Grand Slam singles semi-final – especially after fighting back to oust Taylor Fritz in the last eight.
Sinner and Matteo Berrettini have been the major Italian figures in men’s tennis in recent years, but Musetti possesses a good deal of quality himself.
And with just the possibility that Djokovic is no longer quite the force he was – and many of his results this season might suggest that – it’s just possible that Musetti could pose more problems for the super Serb than the betting shows might imply.
Musetti has contested at least one tiebreak in four of.his five singles outings at Wimbledon – Djokovic was taken to a breaker by Alexei Popyrin in round three too. So have an interest in there being at least one in the second semi-final.
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Odds correct at time of writing
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