Wimbledon Betting / Ben Caudell / 24 June 2010 /

Andy Murray will play in front of the Queen for the first time this afternoon. So will he dish out a right royal drubbing to his opponent? Meanwhile, Ben Caudell explains why grass is good for Asian women.

Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) v Andy Murray (GBR)

Finland's No.1, Jarkko Nieminen's best showing at Wimbledon was back in 2006 where he played fellow left-hander Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals. He lost this match in straight sets but there were signs back then that he could be a formidable force on this surface. Unfortunately, poor form over the past few years has seen him drop from a high of 13 in 2006 to 177 towards the end of 2009. He's currently ranked at 67.

Andy Murray has a 2-0 head-to-head record lead over Nieminen so I expect him to make light work of this match. He's 8-2 on the grass compared with a 4-6 record for Nieminen, The Brit has won six of the last seven matches at Wimbledon, and four of the five at Grand Slam level; another important stat to take note of is Murray's record against lefthanders - he's 35-10 and, amazingly, since 2006 has only ever lost to Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco.

I can see Murray starting the match a little sluggishly and Nieminen might take at least one set. However, once he gets rid of the pre-match nerves and settles into his game Murray will dictate this match.

Selection:
Lay Murray 3-0 @ [1.6]
Back over 34.5 Games @ [1.8]

Jie Zheng (CHN) v Petra Kvitova (CZE)

Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Jie Zheng of China, who is ranked 24 in the world meets Petra Kvitova ranked at 62 for the first time today.

Zheng, like many other Asian tennis players tend to fare better when playing on grass courts. Their speed around the court, short take back on their ground strokes and low centre of gravity give them an advantage when playing on low bouncing, faster court surfaces.

Against Kvitova, Zheng will be confident in making the third round considering that the young Czech has only ever played five matches on grass in her professional career and has lost four of those five. Her only win was against Sorana Cirstea a couple of days ago. Zheng has far more experience at the Grand Slam events and she has decent results at Wimbledon; therefore I will be siding with the Chinese lady in this match.

Selection: Back Jie Zheng @ 1.6 to win match

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