Maria Sharapova, the winner of Wimbledon in 2004, will meet Laura Robson, a young British hopeful, in the second round of Wimbledon 2011 on Friday as the two players meet in the first match of the day on Centre Court (13:00 starting time).
This match is a second round affair as poor weather and long matches led to the abandonment of the original starting time on Day 4.
Sharapova enters the match hot and as a huge 1/33 favorite (
bet365) as she has played the best tennis of her post-shoulder injury career in 2011. She also stands out as one of the front-runners to win this season’s Wimbledon title following impressive form in recent months.
Robson (
24/1 bet365), a British player who plays in front of a home crowd at the All England Club, has a big following at Wimbledon and that could make her out to be more of a threat than her ranking of world No. 254 implies.
The Brit produced a stunning performance on Wednesday to oust Angelique Kerber from the competition and at certain times her shot selection was worthy of an experienced professional.
Sharapova is hardly hated at the All England Club as she's a former champion at the event. Consequently, their match on Friday should draw a huge crowd and there’s no doubt that this is the biggest match of Robson’s career to date.
Sharapova needs to avoid slipping up here, though she should have enough about her to prevail.
No. 1 Court - 13:00 Start time
Laura Robson (GBR) v Maria Sharapova (RUS)[5]
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP) v Venus Williams (USA)[23]
Rafael Nadal (ESP)[1] v Gilles Muller (LUX)
