The second round of the singles draws in the US Open draws to a close on Thursday. After a bumper day of action on Wednesday the tournament is back on schedule which will no doubt please the organisers. There is still a really good day of tennis for us to enjoy on the fourth day of the tournament.
Day 3 Recap
It was an absorbing day of tennis at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday. There were over 80 matches completed and invariably we were going to lose some big names from the tournament. We lost Alex Zverev, Fabio Fognini, Gilles Muller and Nick Kyrgios among others from the men’s draw while Dominika Cibulkova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anett Kontaveit were among the women’s seeds who exited.
It was a brilliant day for us betting wise. The two held over bets from Tuesday both won and at the time or writing this preview three of the four bets for Wednesday that have been completed have won and the other lost in a fifth set. That puts us tidily into the black heading into Thursday and with Stephens, Isner, Cilic and Gavrilova all coming through our outrights are all still intact with Wozniacki yet to run.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Elina Svitolina will be on court for a third day in a row when she opens up play on Ashe. She takes on Evgeniya Rodova before the number one seed Karolina Pliskova goes up against Nicole Gibbs. The afternoon session ends with Roger Federer in action. He plays the veteran Mikhail Youzhny.
The evening session starts with the women’s match once again. That sees Coco Vandeweghe back in action for a second successive day when she plays Ons Jabeur from Tunisia. Rafael Nadal meets Taro Daniel of Japan to round off the day.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Jelena Ostapenko continues her quest for a second Grand Slam title of 2017 in the first match on the temporary court. She faces Sorana Cirstea of Romania before Andrey Rublev takes on Grigor Dimitrov. All eyes will then be on the American youngster Taylor Fritz. He faces Dominic Thiem for a place in the third round before the final match on this court sees Madison Keys playing Tatjana Maria.
Grandstand
Over on Grandstand Barbora Strycova takes on Jennifer Brady to begin play before Juan Martin del Potro plays Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain. Gael Monfils will then take on Donald Young before the last match on the new court sees Svetlana Kuznetsova, fresh off the back of a marathon battle on Wednesday, faces Kurumi Nara of Japan.
Court 17
Tomas Berdych meets the controversial Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in an intriguing looking opener on Court 17. They are followed by Adrian Mannarino and Bjorn Fratangelo before the women take to the stage. Risa Ozaki meets Shuai Zhang and then Agnieszka Radwanska goes up against Yulia Putintseva to round things off.
Best of the Rest
As ever at this point in a Grand Slam there is still some decent action on the outside courts on Thursday. Although seeds are falling like flies, David Goffin, Daria Gavrilova, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Elena Vesnina are some of the seeded players who will be on show around the grounds at Flushing.
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Men’s Betting
There is just the one bet I like in the men’s draw on Thursday and it comes in the all-Spanish clash between Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco. I’m actually a little surprised that Lopez is the favourite here. That is nothing to do with his game. It is well suited to these courts but the courts are just about slow enough this week to bring Verdasco right into play.
What is more Verdasco had a near enough walkover in the first round while Lopez went three hours on Wednesday and has to come out and back that up the day after. That is not going to be easy. It wouldn’t be easy for a youngster let alone someone aging like Lopez is. I think that, along with the lack of speed in the courts, give Verdasco the advantage he needs.
Women’s Betting
There are two I like in the women’s draw on Thursday too. Yanina Wickmayer was in a hurry in the first round and I fancy she will see off the veteran Kaia Kanepi just as quickly in the second round. I like the way the Belgian hits the ball and the angles she finds can be too much for the Estonian who dropped a set 6-0 to Francesca Schiavone in the first round.
I’m also going to go against the French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. She is far too erratic for my liking and with the courts likely to slow up her groundstrokes I think it is worth taking Sorana Cirstea to beat her. Cirstea was another in excellent form in the first round and if she can defend when necessary she has the tools to get past the youngster in this one.
Tips
Back F.Verdasco to beat F.Lopez for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
Back him here:
Back Y.Wickmayer to beat K.Kanepi for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Betfair
Back her here:
Back S.Cirstea to beat J.Ostapenko for a 4/10 stake at 2.50 with Coral
Back her here:
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