Rybakina, Zverev and Tiafoe headline busy Wednesday slate

Wednesday is set to have a slew of terrific matches across both the men’s and women’s tours. Big names such as Elena Rybakina, Alexander Zverev, Frances Tiafoe, and Stefanos Tsitsipas will be in action among others.

Let’s take a look at what to expect across the tennis world. We will start in Halle at the ATP 500 event where arguably the match of the day is between Alexander Zverev against the shot-making Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Zverev continues his comeback tour while the World No. 27 Shapovalov is trying to get his season on track with a marquee win. Also in action are the top two seeds in Halle, Daniil Medvedev, and the aforementioned Tsitispas. Both men should be favorites, but grass is not either of their strengths so it is always an adventure.

In London at the Cinch Championships, the red-hot Frances Tiafoe looks to keep his fine form rolling in an all-American affair with Seb Korda. Korda has a big game, so Tiafoe must be locked in from the beginning. Their compatriot, the heavy serving Ben Shelton, squares off against the 6-seed Lorenzo Musetti.

Rybakina on the slate of matches for Wednesday

Home favorites Cam Norrie and Ryan Penniston will be in action. Norrie should ease by recent Libema Open finalist Jordan Thompson while Penniston will be a big underdog against World. 6 Holger Rune.  The match of the day at the Queen’s Club should be Tiafoe-Korda as I expect each set to be tightly contested.

We stay in England as we hop over to the WTA event in Birmingham. The top seed in this field and the 12th-ranked player in the world, Barbora Krejcikova, takes on Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa. There should be no issues for the Czech star. A pair of top 40 players will also be in action as Shuai Zhang, 7-seed, and Bernarda Pera, the 6-seed both take the court.

In Berlin at the bett1 Open, the reigning Wimbledon champion and World No. 3 Elena Rybakina clashes with the always dangerous Donna Vekic. The smart money would be on Rybakina in straight sets, but Vekic is capable of stealing a set if she comes out ultra-aggressive.

What I would consider the match of the day features the Greek starlet Maria Sakkari facing the veteran Alize Cornet. Sakkari’s power on the grass should be too much for Cornet to handle, but her crafty game can cause problems. Victoria Azarenka looks to begin building momentum of her own as she meets Aliaksandra Sasnovich. I have the former Grand Slam winner Azarenka to fight through in a tough scrap.

Overall, there are marquee names and matches all over the place on Wednesday. Tennis fans are in for a treat from the first serve until the last. Rybakina, Zverev, and Medvedev might be the biggest names, but the depth on both tours continues to grow and Wednesday is a spotlight for just that.