Two years on from the last time professional tennis was played at Queens Club in London, some of the stars of the ATP Tour return there this week for a tournament which has a change in sponsorship but no less prestige as the cinch Championships take place.
Feliciano Lopez had one of the best weeks of his life in 2019 when he won both the singles and the doubles titles and he’ll defend the singles crown this week against a field which surprisingly isn’t quite as strong as usual.
Recent Winners
2019 – Feliciano Lopez
2018 – Marin Cilic
2017 – Feliciano Lopez
2016 – Andy Murray
2015 – Andy Murray
2014 – Grigor Dimitrov
2013 – Andy Murray
2012 – Marin Cilic
2011 – Andy Murray
2010 – Sam Querrey
The Format
We have the typical ATP 500 format this week with the 32 men already drawn into the bracket and playing knockout tennis right from the off. Each match is the best of three sets with the final set having a tiebreak at 6-6 unlike Wimbledon where that decider will come at 12-12 in the fifth segment. The champion will be determined in the final on Sunday June 20 as long as the weather plays ball, which it appears as though it will in the main.
Top Half
The field is weaker this year, so much so that it is the Italian player Matteo Berrettini who is the number one seed this week. The other three seeds in the top half of the draw lack real grass court pedigree with Dan Evans probably the best of the trio. He’ll be looking to entertain the home crowds while Fabio Fognini and Alex de Minaur are probably better suited to other surfaces. Among the others in the top half are former champion Marin Cilic who has already won a title on grass this year, the big serving Reilly Opelka and a certain Andy Murray.
Bottom Half
It is in the bottom half where Feliciano Lopez will attempt to defend his title from. He isn’t seeded in the draw though. It is Denis Shapovalov who is the highest seed in the lower part of the draw but surprisingly his grass court record is very indifferent. The other seeds are Jannik Sinner, who has never won a Tour level match on the green lawns, Aslan Karatsev, another with no grass court pedigree and who won’t have had much practice time on it given that he was competing in the mixed doubles final on clay on Thursday afternoon. Lorenzo Sonego is the other seed and he too has no grass record to speak of. Of the others in the draw there is the big serving Alexander Bublik, Frances Tiafoe and the other British star Cameron Norrie.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account to get up to £25 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Outright Betting
I’ll play one from each half of the draw this week and I am predictably taking a big server in each. In the top half given that Reilly Opelka made the semi-final of a Masters 1000 event on clay recently, he has to be hitting the ball well enough to do some serious damage in this tournament. Opelka has never really done much on grass but he’s only played one season on it and he defeated Stan Wawrinka in a Wimbledon marathon when he did. His powerful serve and big forehand are both weapons that in a weaker looking draw to usual can deliver the goods for us here.
The other outright I’ll play is the defending champion Feliciano Lopez. If grass court specialists still exist given the shortened nature of the season then Lopez is very much one of them. He has won this title twice and made the final on another occasion and generally loves it on the grass. His serve becomes a real weapon on this surface and as the defending champion he’ll get to play at all the good times in the day which is no bad thing. He’s in with a lot of players with poor grass court records in the bottom half of the draw so at 25/1 he looks a good price this week.
Quarter Betting
I’ll also take one in the third quarter where the two seeds – Aslan Karatsev and Jannik Sinner – have to be taken on. Karatsev is still new to this level and will be playing big grass events for the first time in this position in his career while Sinner has no grass court experience to speak of at all either. Alexander Bublik doesn’t have a fantastic record on grass but he has made one tour final in Newport a couple of years ago.
Much like Opelka, the Kazakh arrives here with his game in the best shape it has been in so far in terms of being able to offer up a strong showing. His toughest game in this quarter might actually be the first one against Jeremy Chardy but he isn’t the force he once was. Come through him and it looks to be inexperience all the way in terms of grass court familiarity so if he can get that big booming serve working he can ride a spot in the semi-finals with it this week.
Tips
Back R.Opelka to win cinch Championships (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back F.Lopez to win cinch Championships (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Boylesports (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back A.Bublik to win 3rd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 6.00 with Bet365
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
