{"id":107734,"date":"2026-06-29T19:06:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=107734"},"modified":"2026-06-29T19:06:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:06:45","slug":"wta-wimbledon-townsend-swiatek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/06\/29\/wta-wimbledon-townsend-swiatek\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Wimbledon First Round Best Bets Including Taylor Townsend vs Iga Swiatek"},"content":{"rendered":"

WTA Wimbledon first-round play continues on Tuesday. Whereas the other three major tennis tournaments play their first round over three days, Wimbledon does it in only two. Wimbledon doesn\u2019t play main-draw tennis on a first Sunday. The tournament actually modernized in recent years by having play on the so-called \u201cMiddle Sunday.\u201d The two-day first round means Tuesday\u2019s schedule is jam-packed with matches. We\u2019re going to bring them to you and give you a lot to think about as you consider your next play and your next set of parlays as well. Let\u2019s look at the Tuesday card. LWOS has our best bet for three matches. Post your best bets and thoughts in the comments.<\/span><\/p>\n

WTA Wimbledon<\/b><\/h2>\n

Townsend \u2013 Swiatek: 8:30 EST\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 0-0<\/b><\/p>\n

Taylor Townsend enters this <\/span>WTA<\/span> Wimbledon tournament<\/span><\/a> having played just two grass matches this season. There has been speculation that Townsend is hurt, but she was healthy enough to play in the recent WTA Bad Homburg tournament. She has played very little tennis since Roland-Garros and is therefore a hard player to pin down going into this week at the All-England Club. Iga Swiatek is the defending<\/span> WTA Wimbledon champion<\/span><\/a>, defending a lot of points at this year\u2019s tournament. If she loses early, she will fall out of the WTA top five, which will make it harder for her to advance deep into future WTA Tour and major championship events. Swiatek has played just one grass match this season, so she, like Townsend, will not have a lot of match play going into this battle. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Bet to Make<\/b><\/p>\n

Neither player has played a lot of tennis recently. Neither player is in great form. Neither player is at her physical peak. This suggests a close match in which neither player pulls away from the other. If the match is expected to be close and the favorite doesn\u2019t inspire a lot of confidence that she will completely dominate from start to finish, you should look at the underdog covering the spread. We are going to use a game spread instead of a set spread because on grass, 6-4 sets are fairly common. It is slightly easier for servers to hold serve than on clay or hardcourt. A 6-4, 6-3 Swiatek win cashes a ticket for Townsend relative to the spread. Put Swiatek winning in straight sets on a parlay, but the standalone bet is Townsend plus 5.5 games.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on Townsend +5.5 games is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: Townsend +5.5 games @1.86 @1xbet<\/b><\/p>\n

Cirstea \u2013 Bejlek: Time 9:30 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 0-0<\/b><\/p>\n

Sorana Mihaela Cirstea is going to retire at the end of the 2026 tennis season, or at least, she hasn\u2019t indicated she will reverse or undo this decision. Cirstea has played some of the best tennis of her career in 2026, rising into the top 20 and inspiring a lot of fans to ask that she unretire and come back to tennis for more competition in 2027. Cirstea did a lot of really good work on clay, so now the challenge is to turn to grass at WTA Wimbledon and keep doing the right things on the court. Sara Bejlek, Cirstea\u2019s opponent, is just 1-3 on grass this season, and her one win over Laura Siegemund came about partly because Siegemund needed a medical timeout midway through the match. Bejlek is a clear underdog who has a lot to prove here. Can she perform better than she has in the recent past?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Best Bet to Make<\/b><\/p>\n

The bet here is a simple one. This match is only going to end one way, and it\u2019s not in favor of Bejlek. Sorana Cirstea has been playing good tennis this year. Bejlek has been struggling in recent weeks and on grass in particular. It\u2019s hard, if not impossible, to find a betting angle that is pro-Bejlek here. Cirstea is having a very good year, and that should continue here in the WTA Wimbledon first round. Cirstea moneyline won\u2019t give you much of a price, but Cirstea winning in straight sets will give you a very solid return on your investment. The price is actually generous, and you should take it in a heartbeat.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on Cirstea winning 2:0 is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: Cirstea winning 2:0 @1.95 @1xbet<\/b><\/p>\n

Eala \u2013 Zarazua: Time 9:30 EST<\/b><\/h4>\n

H2H: 0-1<\/b><\/p>\n

Alexandra Eala knows how to play on grass. She has collected some really good wins in this 2026 grass season, beating former Wimbledon semifinalist Elina Svitolina, former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, and former WTA Wimbledon semifinalist Donna Vekic. Eala looks like a dangerous player, the kind of performer who can go through the first week and enter the second week with a chance to do something special. She isn\u2019t the obvious favorite to win the tournament or even make the semifinals, but a lot of people think she can make the Round of 16, and then it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess as to what will happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Bet to Make<\/b><\/p>\n

Alexandra Eala’s grass form has been very impressive. Keep in mind that her most recent match, a loss to Elise Mertens, was the product of having played a lot of tennis (due to winning matches) in a short period of time. Throw that loss out the window. It\u2019s not reflective of how well Eala has played in recent weeks. She is a much, much better player than Zarazua, so much so that Eala winning in straight sets won\u2019t get you that high a price. You have to go to the game spread to get a better return on your winning wager. Eala should be able to cover 5.5 games.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, <\/span>betting on Eala -5.5 games is a value bet for sure.<\/b><\/p>\n

Value bet\/ the best odds: Eala -5.5 games @1.91 @bet365<\/b><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports \u00a0 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WTA Wimbledon first-round play continues on Tuesday. Whereas the other three major tennis tournaments play their first round over three days, Wimbledon does it in only two. Wimbledon doesn\u2019t play main-draw tennis on a first Sunday. The tournament actually modernized in recent years by having play on the so-called \u201cMiddle Sunday.\u201d The two-day first round […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5481,"featured_media":86780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17400,6,4],"tags":[43866,16553,17399,4315,11115,18103,42946,58,43084],"class_list":["post-107734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","category-wimbledon","category-wta","tag-2026-wta-wimbledon","tag-alexandra-eala","tag-best-bets","tag-iga-swiatek","tag-renata-zarazua","tag-sara-bejlek","tag-sorana-mihaela-cirstea","tag-taylor-townsend","tag-wta-wimbledon"],"modified_by":"Kane Webb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5481"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107734"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107742,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107734\/revisions\/107742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}