Expert 2018 Wimbledon Women's First Round Tennis Predictions.

Expert 2018 Wimbledon Women’s First Round Tennis Predictions

Written by on July 2, 2018

American Serena Williams has won Wimbledon the past two times she played it – but missed the tournament last year due to her pregnancy. Because Serena missed so much time, she’s way down at No. 181 in the world rankings. However, she was seeded 25th at Wimbledon because the tournament took her time away into consideration. Williams is the Tennis Betting favorite to win Wimbledon again and should have little issue in the first round Monday vs. Arantxa Rus. Here are a few first-round women’s matches from Tuesday to keep an eye on – and of course bet on at MyBookie.ag.

Expert 2018 Wimbledon Women’s First Round Tennis Predictions

WTA Top 10

  • 1-Simona Halep
  • 2-Caroline Wozniacki
  • 3-Garbiñe Muguruza
  • 4-Sloane Stephens
  • 5-Elina Svitolina
  • 6-Caroline Garcia
  • 7-Petra Kvitova
  • 8-Karolina Pliskova
  • 9-Venus Williams
  • 10-Angelique Kerber

Simona Halep vs. Kurumi Nara

Halep is the No. 1 player in the world and top seed at Wimbledon despite the fact she has struggled on the grass courts of the All England Club. She’s a massive -1150 favorite against Kurumi Nara (+730). Halep won her first career Grand Slam title at this year’s French Open. She came from a set down to beat American Sloane Stephens. Halep had lost in two previous appearances in a final at Roland Garros, against Maria Sharapova in 2014 and Jelena Ostapenko in 2017. Halep then fell to 0-3 with a trophy on the line at the Australian Open in January, where she was beaten by Caroline Wozniacki. At this year’s French, she became just the fourth woman since the introduction of the WTA rankings in 1975 to win her first major after being ranked No. 1, joining Kim Clijsters, Amelie Mauresmo, and Wozniacki. Halep also became the second Romanian woman to win a Grand Slam singles trophy. Her manager, Virginia Ruzici, won the French Open 40 years ago. Halep is best-known for her success on clay and hard courts, but she has gradually learned her way around the grass at Wimbledon, too. A semifinalist in 2014, she has reached the quarters the last two years. She says little has changed now that she finally joined the club of Grand Slam winners. “I didn’t expect a big change. Of course, inside of myself, it’s a change because I’m really happy that I was able to break that barrier,” she said. “The pressure is off. The dream came true. So I don’t stress myself anymore with that Grand Slam thing. It’s nice to be in this position. It gives me just happy moments, nothing else.” Halep arrived in London nearly 10 days before the start of Wimbledon to begin her grass preparation. She has not played a tournament since Paris but says she feels ready. Nara, 26 and from Japan, is ranked 100th in the world. She has one career singles title and is 19-15 in matches this year. Halep won the only previous match between the two back in 2014 at Indian Wells.

Garbine Muguruza vs. Naomi Broady

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza is the third seed and the defending champion and she’s a heavy -1600 favorite against Naomi Broady (+1050). Last year, Muguruza beat Venus Williams 7-5, 6-0 for her first career Wimbledon title and second in a Grand Slam. She also reached the 2015 final at Wimbledon but lost to Serena Williams. Muguruza’s first Slam title was the 2016 French Open, where she beat Serena. The Spaniard suffered a slump in form after winning that French Open with the added expectation levels stifling her usual free-flowing attacking style. “It’s a special situation to come back to the Grand Slam that you won last year. You’re very emotional and happy,” Muguruza said of her return. “But it just doesn’t really matter what happened in 2017. It’s just about this year.” Garbine Muguruza is one of the Tennis Betting favorites to win 2018 Wimbledon. The 6-foot Muguruza is unusual in that she appears equally at home on clay courts and grass courts – she hits booming groundstrokes. Muguruza’s coach Sam Sumyk said they had kept talk of Wimbledon to a minimum in the weeks leading up to the tournament in which the Spaniard played only two matches on grass, losing to Barbora Strycova the second round in Birmingham. “Sometimes, if you think too much too early about a Grand Slam, you can have bad energy. So it’s about making sure you don’t use too much emotional energy too soon,” Sumyk said. Muguruza beat Broady in their only meeting way back in 2011. Broady, from England, is one of the bigger players on tour at 6-foot-2. She’s ranked 70th in the world and has never won a WTA title. She’s 15-16 in matches this year. Broady has spent much of her season playing second-tier tournaments in obscure parts of China and Japan. Wimbledon tradition states that the defending women’s champion leads off the schedule on the first Tuesday, which will make this the most prestigious occasion of Broady’s career as she debuts on Centre Court. “It’s obviously a difficult one playing the defending champion in the first round,” said Broady. “But I have had quite a few people coming up to me to say, ‘If you’re going to get her, you want her in the first round, straight off the bat.’”

Expert Predictions

Halep in three sets and Muguruza in two.