Nick Kyrgios may take some stopping in open quarter

Starts 11.30am Monday

Roger Federer is a hot favourite to win Wimbledon and the Swiss is naturally short in the betting for the first quarter, in which bookmakers see US Open finalist Kevin Anderson and Halle champ Borna Coric as his main competition.

Realistically, Federer should gain revenge on Coric and there looks to be little value in taking on the eight-time All England Club champion in the section.

Marin Cilic won the ATP Fever-Tree Championship at the Queen's Club in fine battling style against final opponent Novak Djokovic and the Croat heads the second section.

He is probably priced about right at 13-8, though anyone not wishing to back Cilic in the outright market could consider backing him for the quarter as Milos Raonic is blowing hot and cold and constantly troubled by injuries while the same applies to Grigor Dimitrov.

The bottom half of the draw looks more competitive and the third quarter in particular is a fascinating betting heat headed by Djokovic.

The Serb is coming back to form but the loss to Cilic, in a match where he led by a set and 4-1 in the second-set tiebreak, suggested that he is not yet at his peak.

He may never again scale the heights of two years ago when he held all four Grand Slam titles heading into Wimbledon, and he could be vulnerable in a quarter featuring a number of improving young players.

Chief among them is Alexander Zverev, who achieved his best placing at a Slam when reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open. But the German was injured at Roland Garros and his fitness in questionable.

Clay specialist Dominic Thiem also registered his best finish at the highest level in Paris, losing out to Rafael Nadal in the final. But of all the young pretenders, Nick Kyrgios could be the man to down Djokovic.

Kyrgios is a big-game player who gets bored against weaker opponents and he is set to face Kei Nishikori, Zverev and Djokovic from the third round onwards which should keep the Australian interested.

Fitness is always an issue with the mercurial 23-year-old but he might just be starting to take the sport seriously following a semi-final run at Queen's where Cilic ended his hopes.

The fourth quarter looks a shootout between Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro with preference for the towering Argentinian.

Recommendation
N Kyrgios to win third quarter
1pt 5-1 Betfred

Read Racing Post Sport and racingpost.com/sport every day for the best World Cup betting coverage

Today's top sports betting stories

Sign up to emails from Racing Post Sport and get all the latest news and tips for the World Cup

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport