Robson primed to set up dream quarter with Serena

Laura Robson’s date with Wimbledon destiny has been set for 1pm on Court One, with the 19-year-old set to experience her first taste of week two at Wimbledon.

She faces up to Kaia Kanepi, the 28-year-old qualifier from Estonia, a first round loser at last year’s tournament.

Despite needing to qualify, Kanepi’s current ranking of 46 is only eight places behind Robson’s ranking of 38, and with a career high of 15th (August 2012) and a four-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, Robson will not take her opponent lightly.

Nonetheless, the influence of a jam-packed Court One cheering her on cannot be underestimated. Robson credited the support of the Court Two crowd for her rejuvenation against Marina Erakovic, when she needed to break the Kiwi’s serve to stay in the game, before going on to complete an impressive victory displaying grit, steel and no little class.

Given the home factor, Robson is a top pick at 11/10 to defeat Kanepi, 8/11 fav with Ladbrokes.

A victory would see her into the quarterfinal, with one of tennis’ all-time greats potentially lying in wait.

Serena Williams is yet to drop a set so far this tournament, her powerful serving and returning proving too strong for her opponents so far. But on Monday she faces her toughest challenge yet in 23rd seed Sabine Lisicki.

The German favours grass courts and showed that she’s not one to shy away from a battle in a three-set victory over 14th seed Sam Stosur, when she came back from a set down to take the last two sets 6-2 6-1.

Williams should still have too much in her armoury, but odds of 5/1 on Lisicki taking a set and Williams prevailing 2-1 offer a tempting addition to a Robson win for a 12/1 double.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.