Wimbledon Betting / Ben Caudell / 21 June 2010 /

Ben Caudell looks at the second day of action in SW19 where the Great British Hope, Andy Murray, plays his first and where a bright talent from another age might spring a surprise

Jan Hajek (CZE) v Andy Murray (GBR)
The British public's sporting gaze will turn from the World Cup and on to Andy Murray as he walks out onto No.1 Court tomorrow afternoon for his first match of the 2010 Wimbledon campaign.
The big talking point over the weekend was whether the Scot would or wouldn't bow to the Queen on her first appearance at Wimbledon since the Silver Jubilee more than 30 years ago. This talking point can now be put to bed seeing as Murray who was expected to walk out onto centre court has been sidelined with a Court 1 appearance instead.
But I don't think Murray will mind one little bit, he will obviously prefer less distractions to hamper his concentration a he takes on Hajek for the first time in his career, although I don't think Murray will need to be too concerned with an opponent ranked 76 places below him.
Hajek has only ever played one Wimbledon main draw match and this was back in 2007, a loss to Juan Carlos Ferrero. He has played just three grass court tournaments in his entire career, preferring to stick to what he knows best by playing challenger events this time of the year on the slower clay courts.
I expect this to be as simple as it comes for Murray to reach the next round, nothing less than a straight set win will do, therefore the best bet would be to back Andy Murray (-) in the Handicaps, Under in the Total games market and Murray in straight sets
Selection: Back Andy Murray 3-0 @1.4


Mirjana Lucic (CRO) v Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
Lucic who was born in the German city of Dortmund, but plays for Croatia, and has just returned to the WTA tour after relative obscurity from 2000 onwards, following a series of personal problems.
As a pro she enjoyed a brief but promising career on the tour in the late 1990s, during which she set a few " youngest-ever " records and amazingly at the age of 15 won the women's Australian Open doubles in 1998, partnering Martina Hingis. At this young age, one week after turning pro, Lucic set a record as the youngest player to have won the very first WTA event she played.
The Croatian's most notable career performance however came way back in 1999 when she achieved her career-best Grand Slam singles performance, defeating nine-time Grand Slam champion Monica Seles 7-6 7-6 in the third round at Wimbledon and then went on to reach the semis before losing to Steffi Graf in three sets.
Lucic's return to the game after many years out has began well, she has predominately plied her trade on the ITF circuit to try and regain the form of her younger years. It's a tactic which has yielded some success - she won the Jackson ITF held on clay back in April. However, it has been her recent form on the grass courts of Birmingham and the Wimbledon qualifiers that has given fellow players a reason to take note. Only a couple of days ago Lucic defeated grass courter Michallea Krajicek in the last round of Wimbledon qualifying 6-3 6-2, and then took four matches in a row before bowing out to Aravane Rezai in Birmingham. She is currently 8-2 on grass and 5-1 at Wimbledon.
The big question here is whether Azarenka recovers from the Eastbourne final where she sustained a leg injury, her movement has looked a little awkward and she may be affected by this mentally, she is also reluctant to talk about this apparent injured leg which makes me believe that it may be more serious than first thought. Although I believe if fully fit Azarenka will win this match quite comfortably, there is definitely value in backing Lucic in the hope that the Belarusian retires after the first set.
Selection: Back Lucic @ [4.5] to win match (small bet)

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