Wimbledon ladies’ round 2: Cepelova can continue run after Halep win

Few had third seed Simona Halep down as a Wimbledon first round casualty to Slovakian youngster Jana Cepelova, but now the 22-year-old must tackle another Romanian player in Monica Niculescu.

Niculescu won their only previous encounter, but an odds-on 3/10 match price cannot be justified when Cepelova has raised her game and knocked out one of the top women according to the WTA rankings. A repeat of Halep’s humbling in three sets looks smart value at 5/1.

Cepelova is 12/5 to get past Niculescu whatever the precise scoreline, and this safety may appeal to punters in case her confidence is so buoyant that she wins in straight sets instead.

Awaiting Cepelova could be former French and US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, if the 29th seed can Kristyna Pliskova, whose sister Karolina lost on Wednesday.

It’s odds-on that Kristyna follows her better known sibling out of Wimbledon, with Kuznetsova priced at 1/5 to win a first-ever encounter. For the veteran Russian to dump Pliskova out in straight sets, take a better 8/15 bet.

While the Williams sisters make most of the women’s headlines, there are a couple of younger Americans looking to make an impression in the bottom half of this year’s Wimbledon draw.

Christina McHale has her work cut out for her as she takes on 16/1 ladies’ singles title chance Sabine Lisicki, a finalist here in 2013. The German and 18th seed won their only previous meeting in straight sets. Lisicki is thus odds-on at 1/4 for victory again, and 4/6 to beat McHale 2-0.