128 men began the US Open in New York almost two weeks ago and now only two remain. One of those was expected to be in the final in Rafael Nadal but his opponent, Kevin Anderson, is very much a surprise package.
The two will face off inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium over the best of five sets for an amazing amount of money but more importantly for the final Grand Slam title of the year.
Rafael Nadal
By his own admission it was not the best start to the tournament for Rafael Nadal but he came good in the end and his last three performances have been much more like the standard we expect from the world number one. Another thing that caught the eye particularly in the semi-final was his tactical nous.
Nadal needs no introduction to Grand Slam finals. He has been in so many of them they are probably routine for him now. This is his third major final of the year and he has won one and lost one so far. He won the French Open in routine fashion and lost the Australian Open final in a five-set epic to Roger Federer.
Kevin Anderson
This US Open has been jam packed with stories and Kevin Anderson is right up there with the best of them. He began 2017 facing the prospect of not playing tennis all year because of a surgery and how he will finish it in terms of the majors at least by competing in his first Grand Slam final. I’m full of admiration for that.
Detractors of this tournament will point out that the long list of absentees meant that the toughest opponent Anderson has faced on his way to this final was Pablo Carreno Busta who is ranked 19 in the world. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to be here. His big serve and heavy groundies have been a feature of the event so far.
Head to Head
These two have met on four previous occasions with Rafael Nadal winning each time. Three of those meetings were on a hard court and Anderson has only won one set in them but the South African has overcome plenty of odds this week already. Their most recent meeting came in Barcelona earlier in the year when Nadal won 63 64.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
I’m full of admiration for Kevin Anderson in this tournament and indeed in his career and I give him complete credit for getting this far but he won his tournament on Friday in my eyes with all the climbing up to his player’s box and the emotion he spoke with in his interview.
It would be true fairy tale stuff for Anderson to win this and I love those as much as the next person but I don’t see it happening here. As I say I believe he ran his race in the semi-final and Rafael Nadal is just too experienced to let this one go regardless of how well he is playing.
I fancy Nadal will win this in straight sets but just in case Anderson comes out swinging and reaches a tiebreak which he gets lucky in before the Spaniard figures it all out I’ll take Nadal to cover a 6.5 game handicap. The longer this goes the further the gap between the two I expect to be. This should cover.
Tips
WON – Back R.Nadal (-6.5 games) to beat K.Anderson for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Bwin
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
