posted June 26, 2008 at 12:43 in Tennis Articles

The higher seeds have started to fall in Wimbledon betting action, but it hasn’t fazed Roger Federer. Gunning for his fifth straight Wimbledon crown, Federer left tennis betting fans wondering if this would finally be the year the Swiss Master would falter in England after disappointing results at the Australian and French Open. But so far it’s been nothing but smooth sailing for Federer through the first two rounds.

Federer’s first match of the tournament was a breeze, as he ran over Dominik Hrbaty 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. He easily passed through the second round as well, knocking off Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 on Wednesday.

While Federer has been cruising, two other Top 4 seeds had their Wimbledon experience cut short. No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko couldn’t even get past the first round after he was upset by Benjamin Becker 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. A day later No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic was sent packing in the second round after being upset by two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin 6-4, 7-6, 6-2.

On Thursday the top seeds in tennis betting action include No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 6 Andy Roddick. Both appear to have easy trips to the next round, but after what happened to Davydenko and Djokovic that may not be the case. Nadal faces Ernest Gulbis as a -1600 online gambling favorite on the tennis odds, while Roddick takes on Janko Tipsarevic as a -900 favorite.

On the women’s side the top seeds have all survived so far but there have been a few scares, namely to No. 1 seed Ana Ivanovic. In her second-round match against Nathalie Dechy, Ivanovic lost the opening set 7-6 before rebounding to take set two by the same 7-6 score, and win the match in an extremely tight third set 10-8. Ivanovic will no doubt be a heavy favorite on the tennis odds in her next match versus Jie Zheng.

Top seeds in action on the women’s side on Thursday include No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic and No. 7 seed and defending Wimbledon champion Venus Williams. Jankovic takes on Carla Suarez Navarro as a -1600 favorite, while Williams faces Anne Keothavong as a huge -4000 favorite.