What a huge moment this is for Britain’s Harriet Dart. She had never before won a match in the main draw at Wimbledon until this year. Now here she is, stepping out on Centre Court against the current world number one Ashleigh Barty.
Ashleigh Barty v Harriet Dart Odds*
Ashleigh Barty 1/33
Harriet Dart 14/1
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on July 5th, 2019 at 11:19 pm)
Can Dart defy the odds against Barty?
Yes, Harriet Dart is the underdog here. A big underdog as well. Dart is the British number four and ranked down at 182nd in the world. Back at the Australian Open earlier this year, Dart had a huge first round match in front of her. That was against Maria Sharapova but despite some gusty play, Dart was crushed with a double doughnut 6-0 6-0. That was an experience.
At Wimbledon this year, the 22-year-old beat Christina McHale in the first round, having fought back from losing the opening set. She then took another three-set win with a victory over Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia. There has been some really positive stuff from here. It is a stretch of course to expect her knock-off Barty, but Dart can be backed to get a set on the board at least with an Ashleigh Barty 2-1 set betting at 6/1 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on July 5th, 2019 at 11:19 pm).
Head to Head
This will be the first meeting between the two players.
Barty looks for more success
This year’s French Open winner and world number one is one of the big names to beat at this year’s Wimbledon. The Australian has picked up three titles this season and is on a massive upward swing at the moment. After that success on the clay at Roland Garros, she never missed a beat in switching over to grass.
She jumped into action in Birmingham and picked up the title with a win over Julia Goerges in the final, having beaten Venus Williams along the way. Barty had her best finish at Wimbledon last season making it to the round of 32 where she was beaten by Daria Kasaktina. She will be expected to get on the front foot early and boss her opponent around.
Prediction
This is going to be a bridge too far for Dart. She has dropped sets against much weaker opponents than Barty and this should only end one way, a victory for the Australian. It is seeing Barty dropping anything in this one and under 17.5 in games is at 11/10 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on July 5th, 2019 at 11:19 pm)
