Wimbledon Day 5 betting picks & best odds – Friday, July 2

The gentlemen’s and ladies’ third round is set to begin on Friday as the fields at Wimbledon have each been cut down from 128 players to 32 remaining. Plenty of upsets and surprises have set the stage for an interesting field moving forward. Here are our top Wimbledon betting plays for Friday’s card.

Frances Tiafoe (-145) vs Karen Khachanov (+125)

Frances Tiafoe followed up his impressive straight-sets upset win over Stefanos Tsitsipas with another dominant performance in a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Vasek Pospisil in the second round. Karen Khachanov also picked up a win in straight sets in his second-round matchup with a 6-1, 7-6, 6-3 victory over Egor Gerasimov.

All signs point to a great, competitive match here. Both of these players have a lot of power and are coming into this match in strong form. Tiafoe and Khachanov met in a thrilling third-round match in Wimbledon back in 2018 when Tiafoe took an early 6-4, 6-4 lead only to fall to Khachanov in a 6-7, 2-6, 1-6 runout over the last three sets.

The value is probably on Khachanov here; he is good enough to beat Tiafoe even if the American doesn’t have one of his stereotypical lapses in concentration. But after watching his first two matches in this tournament, we are sold that Tiafoe has turned a corner. He has been strong on his serve and aggressive on his returns and didn’t even face a break point in his dominant win over Pospisil. This feels like his match to lose.

Sloane Stephens (+130) vs Ludmilla Samsonova (-150)

Ludmilla Samsonova deserves to be the favorite in this match. She has played well in her wins over Kaia Kanepi and Jessica Pegula so far in this tournament and earned a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win over Sloane Stephens the last time these two met in the 2020 Brisbane International.

With that said, Stephens wasn’t in her current form in that match. Stephens cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 upset win over Petra Kvitova in the first round and carried that momentum into a 7-5, 6-3 win over Kristie Ahn in the second round. The American can compete at the highest level when she is at her best and she appears to be right now at the right time in a tournament that has claimed many of the top seeds on the women’s side already. Her run continues with another upset here.

Garbine Muguruza (+136) vs Ons Jabeur (-169.49)

This on paper looks to be one of the best potential matchups of the third round. Garbine Muguruza has steamrolled each of her first two opponents with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Fiona Ferro and a 6-1, 6-4 win over Lesley Kerkhove. But Ons Jabeur wasn’t much less dominant in her 6-2, 6-1 win over Rebecca Peterson and her 7-5, 6-0 victory over Venus Williams.

These two met in January of last year in the Hobart International and had a competitive 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 match that went Muguruza’s way. Jabeur has improved since then and grass is her best surface. Muguruza is playing well and is a two-time Grand Slam champion. Whoever comes out on top here will likely need more than a total of 22 games to do so.

Daniel Evans (-113) vs Sebastian Korda (-107)

Birmingham, England native Daniel Evans is having a surprising career year at 31 years old. Evans picked up his first ever singles title earlier this year in Melbourne and has produced two straight-set victories so far at Wimbledon over Felicaino Lopez and Dusan Lajovic.

Sebastian Korda on the other hand is just getting started in his career. The 20-year-old also picked up his first singles title earlier this year in Parma and is off to a good start in Wimbledon with wins over Alex de Minaur and Antoine Hoang. This will be a fun match between an old veteran and a young up-and-comer. Evans has collected upset wins over Novak Djokovic, Felix Auger-Aliassime and David Goffin this year and will have the home crowd behind him; look for his 2021 magic to continue with a trip to the quarterfinals.