Flavio Cobolli vs Rinky Hijikata Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Wimbledon Championships

Prediction published on 01/07/2024, 08:07  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 01/07/2024 at 08:57 in ATP Wimbledon Championships Predictions

Two unseeded players meet in the first round of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. Australia's Rinky Hijikata takes on Flavio Cobolli from Italy for a place in round two of this grass court Grand Slam.

There could be seeded opposition in the next round. That will be the case if the 24th seed (and recent Mallorca Open champion) Alejandro Tabilo gets past Britain's Daniel Evans.

Hijikata is 77th in the latest rankings, seven places below his career-high. In the live list he's equalled that 70th place and will set a new personal best if beating Cobolli so a massive incentive.

The 23-year-old was as low as 98th last month but has made good strides up the rankings since then. He reached the quarter-finals at Queen's Club and round two in Mallorca last week.

At WImbledon, Hijikata has not had much success. This is his third visit and the previous two both saw him exit in the qualifying rounds. He'll look to repeat the form that took him to last year's US Open fourth round.

Flavio Cobolli is a career-high 48th in the new rankings. The Italian is up a place in the live list and 42nd in the ATP Race. It's not his grass court form that has seen him rise up the rankings.

He's played three tournaments on this surface in 2024 and his best was getting to the last eight in Eastbourne. Cobolli didn't beat anyone ranked in the top 60 and one of those beaten was ranked 359th at the time.

His run ended with a three-set loss to Billy Harris who was the world number 139 when they played their quarter-final.  This is his third time at Wimbledon but the other two visits both produced first qualifying round defeats. We tip Hijikata to win this.