Wimbledon Tip: Sharapova V Cibulkova

Maria Sharapova will have been nearly as thrilled with results of other matches as she was with her own on Monday afternoon. Her 6-4 6-2 win over Shuai Peng was made all the sweeter by defeats to both Williams sisters and world number one Caroline Wozniacki. The latter scalp was claimed by next opponent Dominika Cibulkova who ran out a 1-6 7-6 7-5 victor over the Danish star.

As good an achievement as that was for the Slovakian, it’s hard to see her raising her game sufficiently to pull off an even bigger shock the very next day. Cibulkova is another player who has played a lot of tennis to reach the quarter-finals having been taken to three sets in all but one round of the singles so far. Fatigue could be a problem against the power of the Russian who will make anybody scamper round a grass court more than they would like. Cibulkova’s 6-1 reverse in the first set against Wozniacki showed that she can be exposed by the top players.

Sharapova is better than the world number one on this surface and that is ominous for her opponent on Tuesday. The Russian has not dropped a set yet, and it would be reasonable to expect more of the same here. PaddyPower again look generous to offer evens on Cibulkova to win less than 8.5 games in the match. Sharapova should win in two sets, and if she does then this bet looks very strong.