Wimbledon Betting Tips: Joint can give Samsonova a July jump scare

The opening day of Wimbledon this year threw up a few shocks, with Daniel Medvedev (Wrl) and Alexei Popyrin (AUS) both dumped out in four sets in the men's singles on Monday, while two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) was taken to five sets by a 38-year-old Fabio Fogini (ITA), who is on the verge of retirement. Meanwhile, in the women's singles, Paulo Badosa (ESP) was sent on her way by Katie Boulter (GBR). 

Could we see a couple more shocks on Day Two? Below are my Wimbledon Betting Tips for Tuesday, July 1, as I head to both the men's and women's singles for my two selections.

Set Betting - Daniel Evans (GBR) 3-0 vs Jay Clarke (GBR) @ 5/4

British No. 5 takes on British No. 6 in the first round of Wimbledon on Tuesday, as Daniel Evans and Jay Clarke face off at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Evans has enjoyed a resurgence, of sorts, over the last month, winning at least one match at all three grass-court tournaments he has attended. He upset Australian Rinky Hijikata at the Libema Open in 's-Hertogenbosch on June 11, before shocking American Frances Tiafoe at Queen's Club in London five days later. Then, at the Eastbourne Open last week, the 35-year-old overcame Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic and another American, Tommy Paul, despite being the underdog in all of those wins, before bowing out in the quarter-finals to a third American, Jenson Brooksby.

The grass courts and home support really look to have spurred Evans on this summer, and he arrives to Wimbledon this year, where he hasn't won a main-draw match since 2021, as the big favourite against fellow Brit Clarke, who has lost three of his four first-round contests at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Clarke is in poor form, having lost his last five matches, three of which have been on grass. His last success was in the final of the clay-court Macedonian Open on May 24, and his last four defeats have all been on grass, the three most recent of which have come without winning a set.

The 26-year-old has only played Evans once before, in a Battle of the Brits exhibition match in June 2020, which the more experienced player won 2-0.

Evans is in a great moment right now, and the confidence with which he is playing should see him brush past the challenge of Clarke without losing too much sweat.

Set Betting - Liudmila Samsonova (Wrl) 2-1 vs Maya Joint (AUS) @ 3/1

Nineteen-year-old Maya Joint rocketed to No. 41 in the WTA Rankings on Sunday with a stunning victory over fellow teenager Alexandra Eala in the Eastbourne Open Final, securing her second WTA title and becoming the first Australian player to win the women’s title in the 50-year history of the British seaside event.

Joint beat Ons Jabeur (TUN), Emma Raducanu (GBR), Anna Blinkova (Wrl) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Wrl) en route to the final, beating all but the Brit, Raducanu, in straight sets, and against Eala, she saved four championship points in a three-set success. It's the perfect preparation for Wimbledon, where expectations will now be higher.

Liudmila Samsonova is standing in the way of Joint and the second round at SW19. The 26-year-old, ranked 22 places higher than the Aussie in the WTA rankings, is favourite to claim victory on Tuesday, and her experience and strong form this year are enough to convince me that she will have slightly too much for her opponent here.

Samsonova reached the fourth round at Roland Garros at the start of last month, just after reaching the final of the Strasbourg Open, and while she suffered a disappointing first-round exit in 's-Hertogenbosch in her first grass-court match this year, she subsequently beat former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka (JAP), current No. 3 Jessica Pegula (USA) and current No. 12 Amanda Anisimova (USA) at the German Open in Berlin to make the final four, where she lost to Xinyu Wang (CHI).

While Joint won the Eastbourne Open and can certainly make this match competitive, her wins have come against less illustrious opposition compared to the Russian, so I'm backing Samsonova to triumph on Tuesday over three sets.

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