The third round of Wimbledon is set to conclude on Saturday with plenty of players still hoping for career-best results here at the All England Club.
I'll be eyeing two men who have been starting to show signs of life on a surface that's traditionally been a struggle for them against some of the bigger names remaining in the draw.
Here are my Wimbledon predictions for Fils – Safiullin and Fritz – Tabilo.
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Wimbledon Odds & Wimbledon Predictions
Arthur Fils (-140) vs. Roman Safiullin (+110)
6 a.m. ET
It took Roman Safiullin until the age of 24 to really show us what he can do on a tennis court, playing up to his potential with a plethora of wins at the lower levels in 2022 before his breakout 2023 campaign which saw him post some career-best results in main draws.
One of the best weeks that the Russian had came at Wimbledon, where he defeated an accomplished grass-court player in Roberto Bautista Agut and ran out to the quarterfinals before taking a set off of Jannik Sinner in a loss.
It would seem to make sense that the big-hitting Russian would take a liking to the grass, and after a 9-4 record across all matches in 2023 he's begun to build himself back up this season with a couple of wins at this year's championships over quality opponents in Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Machac.
While this season hasn't delivered quite as much as 2023 for Safiullin, he's beginning to look like himself again and using the quick speeds of grass at Wimbledon to his advantage.
His opponent, Arthur Fils, has also played some quality tennis on grass this year but lacks the power of Safiullin and hasn't been tested nearly as much here at Wimbledon against an out-of-form Dominic Stricker and the Grand Slam-averse Hubert Hurkacz, who had to retire due to injury in the fourth set on Thursday.
I think Safiullin is the better player on this surface, and he may be the better player overall in this head-to-head.
Pick: Safiullin ML (+110 via DraftKings)
Taylor Fritz (-450) vs. Alejandro Tabilo (+340)
8:30 a.m. ET
It's not that I don't believe in Taylor Fritz on a grass court. After all, he won his first-ever ATP title on the surface back in 2019 when he defeated Sam Querrey in the Eastbourne final, and after a Wimbledon quarterfinal run in 2022 and an 8-1 record on grass this year he's done more than enough to prove himself.
I just don't think this line is very fair to his opponent, Alejandro Tabilo. Yes, the Chilean may seem a bit over-ranked at No. 19 in the world, but he's possessed the power to be a weapon on all types of courts and after an injury-riddled 2022 season he began to re-start his upward trajectory last year.
Across the last two seasons, Tabilo is now 21-8 at all levels on hard courts and after some moderate success in his first couple of tries on grass years ago he's displayed a mastery of the surface in 2024 with a title in Mallorca and an 8-1 record overall heading into play Saturday.
Tabilo stands tall and delivers a big serve and a very hard, flat game from the back of the court which should make the conditions for offense very arduous for the big-hitting American. Both players should have plenty of success on serve, and I expect each to win a set. That should make for a tight scoreline, so I'll take the games here with Tabilo given the inaccuracy of this price.
Pick: Tabilo +4.5 games (+110 via DraftKings)
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