Novak Djokovic was handed an early win against Martin Klizan in round one at Wimbledon but we’re hoping Adam Pavlasek can give him more of a work-out on Thursday.
Three-time champion Djokovic was ahead 6-3 2-0 when the Slovakian retired due to a leg injury after just 40 minutes of play, so may need another outing to improve his sharpness.
“It’s never nice to win like this, but I tried to focus on my game plan,” said the second seed. “I thought I served well, but didn’t do so well on my returns.”
That telling comment encourages us to take 19/20 for there to be more than 27.5 games in this match for our Djokovic vs Pavlasek betting tips.
Despite picking up the trophy at Eastbourne in the build-up to this tournament, Djokovic has been below his best of late, with his only other 2017 title coming in Doha at the start of the season.
The 30-year-old did just enough at the Aegon International and it is worth noting that of the eight sets he won there, six were either 6-4 or 6-3 and another went to a tiebreak.
That makes 7/10 for there to be more than 8.5 games in the opener here catch the eye from the Djokovic vs Pavlasek odds.
Pavlasek showed promise in opening match
Pavlasek has spent much of the season on the Challenger Tour, but the 22-year-old Czech player certainly served well enough when beating Ernesto Escobedo on Tuesday.
After losing a first-set tiebreaker, he went on to prevail 6-1 6-3 6-1 in the next three, with no points lasting longer than four shots.
Obviously, it requires a leap of faith to hope Pavlasek can now keep his composure in such exalted company, but the feeling is that if he can hold his nerve, he can hold his serve.
Odds of 9/4 for there to be a tie-break in the match are tempting, but we’ll stick with backing Pavlasek to at least pick up three or four games in each set.
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