After another clean sweep of winners including a 7/1 shot on Thursday, Andy Schooler brings you his best bets for day five of Wimbledon 2025.
Tennis betting tips: Wimbledon day five
1pt Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (+5.5) to beat Taylor Fritz on the game handicap at 4/5 (BetVictor)
1pt Elina Svitolina (-1.5) to beat Else Mertens on the game handicap at 4/5 (betway)
Taylor Fritz v Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Fritz has toughed it out across the first two rounds, coming through five-set battles on each occasion.
It doesn’t get any easier for the much-fancied American with fellow seed Davidovich Fokina awaiting in the last 32.
Significantly, this is a considerably different test to what’s gone before.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Gabriel Diallo were all about slamming down 140mph serves and there certainly haven’t been many long rallies across the 10 sets Fritz has already played in SW19.
That should change here with the Spaniard a dogged battler from the back of the court, but also a player who can quickly turn defence into attack. It can certainly be argued that Fritz isn’t massively prepared for such a battle given the opponents he’s had to deal with so far.
Davidovich Fokina has caused Fritz problems before, too. He leads their tour-level series 3-2, although admittedly two of those wins came on his favoured clay. On grass, it’s a different story with Fritz 1-0 up.
Interestingly, that match came only last week in Eastbourne where the eventual champion won in three sets.
Fokina beat Jakub Mensik during that run – his first grasscourt appearance of the season – and he’s proved his no mug on this surface with wins over Arthur Fils, Hubert Hurkacz and Alex de Minaur on it in recent years.
A small bet on the underdog via the handicap market, where he gets a 5.5-game start, is the call here.
Elise Mertens v Elina Svitolina
I’ve long been keen on Svitolina at the Slams, including Wimbledon, where she’s enjoyed some impressive runs in recent years.
She made the semis here in both 2023 and 2019 and returned to the last eight last season.
Although I didn’t put her up in my outright preview, she certainly made the shortlist and, so far, has looked impressive, losing only 10 games across the opening two rounds.
With her aggressive returning, she’s managed to break serve 11 times in those encounters.
Notably, Svitolina beat Mertens only last week in Bad Homburg, claiming a 7-5 6-4 victory to extend her advantage on the head-to-head record to 5-3. It’s 2-0 on grass.
The Ukrainian lost her next match in Germany last week but that final-set tie-break defeat to Beatriz Haddad Maia was far from disastrous.
Mertens, who won just 42% of second-serve points in last week’s clash, did win the title in Den Bosch a few weeks ago and won’t be beaten easily, but Svitolina’s excellent defence and ability counter-punch can get her through this one.
She’s the 4/6 favourite but I’ll back her giving up a 1.5-game start.
Posted at 2200 BST on 03/07/25
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