Wimbledon Betting Tips: Sinner to saunter into second week

This year's Wimbledon enters its first weekend after a frantic first five days at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, where several seeds have been sent packing in the first couple of rounds. Will we see some more shocks in the third round on Saturday?

Below are my Wimbledon Betting Tips for Saturday, July 5, with the top men's singles seed and World No. 1, Jannik Sinner, starring in the last of my three selections.

Set Betting -  Marin Cilic (CRO) 3-1 vs Jaume Munar (ESP) @ 3/1

Marin Cilic, runner-up to the great Roger Federer in the 2017 Wimbledon Final, rolled back the years on Thursday to stun British No. 1 and fourth seed, Jack Draper, in the second round, beating him 3-1 (6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4) on Court One.

The 36-year-old, who spent more than two years out of tennis to deal with a knee injury that required two rounds of surgery, played an absolute blinder against a man 13 years his junior, sending Draper around the court with a series of magnificent shots.

Naturally, Draper was disappointed to lose, as he was the huge favourite to progress, but it was far from his worst match, and the credit must really go to Cilic for his performance.

Next up for the Croatian is a third-round meeting with Spaniard Jaume Munar, who shocked Alexander Bublik 3-2 (6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2) in the opening round, before dispatching Fabian Marozsan in straight sets (6-2, 6-3, 7-6) on Thursday.

Munar (55), ranked 27 places higher than Cilic, has lost both of his previous matches against the 2014 US Open winner, suffering straight-set defeats on hard court in 2022.

Those meetings should have little effect on the outcome of Saturday's contest, but it might give Cilic, who became the oldest grass-court champion in the history of the ATP Challenger Tour last month at the Nottingham Open, a slight mental edge on Munar.

I don't think it will be a walk in the park for Cilic, but if he plays anywhere near the level he did against Draper, I'd expect him to avoid a fifth set.

Munar will be encouraged by his victory over Bublik in particular, so I fancy him to take a set on Saturday, but that's as far as things will go for the 28-year-old, in my opinion.

Set Betting - Alex de Minaur (AUS) 3-0 vs August Holmgren (DEN) @ 4/6

August Holmgren's Cinderella story at this year's Wimbledon continues after a five-set (7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5, 7-6) victory over 21st seed Tomas Machac in the second round on Thursday.

The 27-year-old, ranked 192nd in the ATP rankings, battled through three qualifiers last month before upsetting Quentin Halys in straight sets (7-6, 6-3, 6-4) on Tuesday, and after overcoming Machac, the Dane now finds himself in the third round, up against Australian No. 1 and 11th seed Alex de Minaur, who comfortably overcame the challenges of Roberto Carballes Baena (6-2, 6-2, 7-6) and Arthur Cazaux (4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0) to reach the third round.

De Minaur will have expected stiffer opposition at this stage of the tournament, with Bublik tipped to be his third-round rival before a ball was served, and while Holmgren's performances so far merit the utmost respect, it's really all down to the Australian on Saturday. If he turns up, this should be a straightforward victory, but if he doesn't, then his name could be added to the list of upsets already witnessed in SW19 this week.

I'm opting for the former, with the knowledge that the 26-year-old has never been knocked out of a grand slam by anyone as lowly ranked as his second-round opponent, Cazaux, let alone someone as low down as Holmgren.

Game Handicap 3 - Jannik Sinner (ITA) -11.5 vs Pedro Martinez (ESP) @ 6/4

After watching Sinner ease into the third round on Thursday, I'm also backing the Italian to make it to the second week of Wimbledon with the minimum of fuss.

The 23-year-old made light work of Aleksandar Vukic, giving up just five games in a straight-sets victory (6-1, 6-1, 6-3), two days after dropping only seven to countryman Luca Nardi (6-4, 6-3, 6-0).

It was a similar story at Roland Garros, as he won all six matches in straight sets prior to his agonising 3-2 defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the final last month.

Sinner overcame an 11.5 game handicap in four of his first five contests at the French Open, and has done so in his first two matches at this year's Wimbledon.

His third-round opponent, Pedro Martinez, eased past George Loffhagen in four sets (2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2) on Tuesday, before beating Mariano Navone in straight sets (7-5, 7-5, 7-6) on Thursday, but as you can see, the Spaniard was made to really work for his second-round victory.

The 28-year-old has only faced Sinner once before, at the Italian Open in May 2022, when he lost 4-6, 3-6 on clay.

I'm expecting Sinner to produce an even more emphatic result on Saturday, winning in straight sets again, and overcoming an 11.5 game handicap.

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