Djokovic to come through rigid Gasquet test in Wimbledon semi
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It’s a very familiar story for Novak Djokovic who is one match away from defending his Wimbledon title in Sunday’s final and the super Serb will be there, but only after a tough semi-final against Richard Gasquet.
The Frenchman may be the joker in the semi-final, line-up pack and the 8/1 underdog to cause a humongous shock, but he has earned his second crack at making a Wimbledon final having also been here in 2007.
Defeating French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka is no mean feat, though how much five sets took out of the 20th seed over his quarter-final classic, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Djokovic cruised into his sixth consecutive Wimbledon semi thanks to a straight sets victory over US Open champ Marin Cilic and this is reflected in his 1/16 odds to win.
As with so many of Djokovic’s opponents the head-to-head record is heavily lopsided too. The Serb is up 13-1 and if he finds his groove early the contest could be over a little quicker than the crowd would like.
However, the case for Gasquet making life tough for Djokovic is made easier by their latest clash.
Tellingly, that encounter took place a whisker before Wimbledon on the grass of Stoke Park at the Boodles Challenge tournament.
Admittedly, it was Djokovic’s first run out on grass this season, but it went to 10-8 in the decider, with Gasquet taking the second set in a tiebreak.
The signs were clearly brewing that Gasquet meant business ahead of his preferred Grand Slam.
Back to the task in hand and the aforementioned performance, combined with Djokovic’s struggles against Kevin Anderson in the fourth round, lend attraction to Gasquet pinching a set at 6/4.
Equally the 3-1 scoreline in the defending champion’s favour appeals at 11/4, but the best bet may be one about the total amount of games.
Bearing in mind their recent best-of-three-set tussle went to 43 games, the over 33.5 total games market looks one to exploit at 6/5.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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