Konta may have to go the distance against Venus

Day ten BBC1, from 1pm Thursday

V Williams v Konta

Hopes are growing that Britain may be celebrating a women's Wimbledon champion one year after paying homage to a men's one, but Johanna Konta still has work to do if she is to win her maiden Grand Slam in London.

She's getting better, though, and has a fine temperament to boot and Konta has definitely attracted the attention of bookmakers who make her a slight favourite to defeat five-time All England Club singles champion Venus Williams.

Konta, who leads Williams 3-2 in their personal series, did a fine job of defeating the American veteran in Stanford last year, when she franked the form of her win in the Australian Open earlier that season.

But while Konta, who looks a future US Open champion too, knows how to beat Williams on a hard court, it could be a different story on grass, on which the Australian-born Eastbourne resident may not be quite as special.

This season saw Konta pull 3-1 clear in their series with a third hard-court win over Williams in Miami, but the older of the legendary tennis-playing sisters has since reduced her arrears on clay, which is the Briton's weakest surface.

Should Venus, who won the last of her five grass-court singles crowns in 2008, take an early lead, Konta looks to have enough grit and determination to level at a set apiece.

Perhaps the biggest danger to the clash going the distance would be Konta obliging in straight sets. But Venus came to London knowing full well she was capable of adding to her haul in the absence of her sister Serena, who is expecting her first child, and the golden oldie is still good enough to play her part in a potential thriller.

It's 5-4 about the match lasting three sets and given that it is difficult to pick a winner that could be the way to go.

Recommendation
Three-set match
1pt 5-4 general

Muguruza v Rybarikova
The form Magdalena Rybarikova has been showing and her history with opponent Garbine Muguruza suggests the outsider could provide the latest Venus Rosewater Dish favourite with a serious test of her title credentials.

Rybarikova has dropped sets against only ante-post joint-market leader Karolina Pliskova and qualifier Petra Martic and if she performs as positively as she did in her quarter-final victory over Coco Vandeweghe, the 28-year-old Slovak can cause problems for Muguruza.

Rybarikova showed her love for grass-court tennis when winning the Edgbaston title in 2009, but since then there have been injury woes and self-esteem issues.

However, the world number 87 showed she was back to some­where near her best when winning ITF events in Surbiton and Ilkley last month either side of a run to the semi-finals in Nottingham, where she lost to Konta.

And after her promising start to the short turf campaign Rybarikova was cut from 500-1 by Paddy Power for Wimbledon in the days before the Grand Slam started.

Venezuela-born Muguruza, 23, looks accomplished on grass but Rybarikova has done enough on the terrain to suggest she could push the Spaniard out of her comfort zone. And if that was to happen, it could develop into a battle royal and there may not be much between the pair.

Muguruza has dropped just the one set in the singles this year – against world number one Angelique Kerber – but Rybarikova may have the grass-court nous to fare better than Ekaterina Alexandrova, Yanina Wickmayer, Sorana Cirstea and Svetlana Kuznetsova did against the 14th seed.

Most layers afford Rybarikova, a 6-3 6-1 victor over Muguruza in Edgbaston in 2015, a start of 3.5 games so it may be worth supporting the Slovak with a 4.5 start.

Recommendation
M Rybarikova +4.5 games
1pt 8-11 Betway