Lopez – Isner

Feliciano Lopez and John Isner will take the court in the Wimbledon 3rd round on Saturday and it will be one of the most anticipated clashes of the day.

Feliciano Lopez is the man in form right now on the ATP tour. A great player on grass, Lopez had an amazing warm-up for Wimbledon, playing the final in Queens (lost a close game to Dimitrov) and winning Eastbourne. His victims over the two weeks included Gasquet, Berdych, Hewitt, Chardy, Stepanek and Querrey. Feliciano maintained his level of play in Wimbledon, defeating Sugita and Pavic without losing a set – albeit these two were not exactly very dangerous opponents. He could be a little tired after playing so many matches recently, but I`m sure he`ll be pumped up for today and wouldn’t have played two tournaments prior to SW19 if he knew he can’t handle it.

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Isner is arguably the best server on tour right now, but surprisingly he is not such a good grass court player and that`s because his movement is not exactly top class. This is the first time in Isner’s career when he passes the second round at Wimbledon, so that speaks volumes. He defeated Smethurst and Nieminen in 3 sets in what where his first two matches on the green this year.

The H2H is 2-1 for Isner, but the two players have never played on grass and did not meet since 2012. They both have excellent serves but Lopez is a little bit more versatile and his tennis is better suited to the green.

I expect Lopez to come out on top and he might well do it with sets to spare. Lopez has been basically unbreakable on grass this season and he is almost guaranteed to at least reach the tiebreak in every set, if he does not find a way to break Isner somewhere along the way. Feliciano is in better form, he is the better player on grass and he has amazing confidence after his recent run. Not only is he better adapted than Isner on the green, but he also has so much more practice this season, big John played only 2 matches and could still be a little rusty. My only problem with a bet on Lopez to win is that he played so much lately, but a match against Isner will not exactly be physically exhausting, it will mostly be played on serve. Due to the amount of tennis he played lately, I`m sure Lopez wants to finish this as soon as possible, so I’m taking a calculated risk and I`m tipping him to win with a 1,5 set handicap at excellent odds. Expect at least two tiebreaks as well. Prediction: Feliciano Lopez – John Isner 7-6 6-4 6-7 7-6.

Pick: Lopez (-1,5 set handicap)
Odds: 2.36 @ Sbobet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 10.88
Event date: 28 June