Wimbledon R2 previews and predictions: Tiafoe vs. Pospisil, Rublev vs. Harris

Frances Tiafoe, who upset Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday, will look to keep his Wimbledon momentum going against Vasek Pospisil in round two. Also on Wednesday, Russia’s Andrey Rublev takes on Lloyd Harris.

Frances Tiafoe vs. Vasek Pospisil

Frances Tiafoe had probably the biggest win of his career on Monday, with a shocking straight-set upset of No. 3 seed and French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas. Sure Tsitsipas was ripe for the picking given the disappointment of losing a two-set lead in the French Open final to Novak Djokovic. But there is also the fact that Tiafoe has been playing some legitimately impressive grass-court tennis in the past few weeks, including a win at the Nottingham Challenger.

Vasek Pospisil’s first-round conquest wasn’t nearly as impressive as Tiafoe’s. He took out world No. 100 Roberto Carballes Baena, a clay-courter whose ranking has been hovering in the triple-digits since 2020. Still, Pospisil also had a good warmup event, with a quarterfinal showing in Eastbourne last week.

This could be one of the more entertaining matches on the docket for Wednesday, as both men are playing well. Expect Pospisil to keep it competitive, but with Tiafoe’s confidence and level the American should find his way to the third round.

Cheryl pick: Tiafoe in 4

Ricky pick: Tiafoe in 4

(5) Andrey Rublev vs. Lloyd Harris

Andrey Rublev is a staggering 33-10 on the season, with a title in his pocket from Rotterdam and a litany of semifinal and final results to show for his efforts. Unfortunately for the Russian, he also had a bizarre first-round loss at Roland Garros at the hands of Jan-Lennard Struff. He seemed to bounce back well enough in Halle–where he made the final–but he was a bit shaky in his first-round match this week against Federico Delbonis.

Lloyd Harris is playing well on grass this season. The world No. 50 made his way to the quarters in Halle and he breezed through his opener on Monday in straight sets against Ricardas Berankis. Rublev shellacked Harris the only other time they met, on the hard courts of Adelaide back in 2020.

While Rublev seems to have gone slightly off the boil, perhaps owing to the fatigue of the long season, he got in plenty of grass-court tennis in Halle and should be sufficiently warmed up. With the match scheduled for court 18 rather than the ice rink that is Centre Court, there shouldn’t be much in the way of surprises here.

Cheryl pick: Rublev in 3

Ricky pick: Rublev in 3