Wimbledon Women's Betting: Larcher de Brito hoping to repeat heroics

Will de Brito make a successful return to SW19?

It's Day 1 at Wimbledon 2014, and the first group of tournament hopefuls get their campaign underway with Abelson Info taking a closer look at some interesting clashes...

On a packed schedule for Monday, second seed Li Na is amongst the top names to feature although the Chinese star hasn't been in the best of form and has failed to deliver on this surface previously.

Nevertheless, she will be confident of her chances against qualifier Paula Kania, as will former finalist Agnieszka Radwanska who faces Andreea Mitu in her opener, with both top seeds having one eye on their opponent in the next round.

In contrast, as mentioned in our first round upsets piece, things could be a little trickier for Victoria Azarenka, with the former world number one spending a significant amount of time in the treatment room prior to her unsuccessful comeback at Eastbourne last week.

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni is a dangerous opponent, and having previously made a run to the semi-finals here back in 1999, her Belarusian rival will not take her lightly as she looks find her feet and get back to her dominant style of play.

Elsewhere, the likes of Sam Stosur, Petra Kvitova and Caroline Wozniacki all make their Wimbledon bows, and we don't foresee any of the trio having too many problems in overcoming their first round tests.

In contrast, having caused quite the stir last year with her win over Maria Sharapova, Michelle Larcher de Brito will be hoping a return to the grass of Wimbledon will be a good omen for her despite her relatively underwhelming year thus far.

The Portuguese ace is still ranked outside of the top 100 and hasn't set the tour alight since her memorable win last year, but her semi-final run in Nottingham earlier this month proves that she can be a different proposition completely on this surface.

She faces Svetlana Kuznetsova in her opener, and while the Russian star will expect to have enough on the day, there is a chance of a potential upset in this one.

Meanwhile, Lauren Davis will also harbour ambitions of carrying out a professional job on Alisa Kleybanova, as while the American starlet produced some solid tennis in Birmingham last week, her rival has done no preparation of note in the build-up to Wimbledon.

As a result, a straight sets win could represent good value given that Davis is the strong favourite to prevail in the match odds market.

Other stars to look out for on the first day include Garbine Muguruza and Dominika Cibulkova, while Flavia Pennetta will likely join them in the next round after she has successfully overcome Jana Cepelova.

In addition, Tsvetana Pironkova will be looking to improve her head-to-head record against Varvara Lepchenko to 5-1, with the Bulgarian winning in straight sets in all four previous victories.

Recommended Bets:
Back Larcher de Brito to beat Kuznetsova @ 3.259/4
Back Pironkova to beat Lepchenko 2-0 @ 1.910/11
Back Davis to beat Kleybanova 2-0 @ 1.9110/11