The second round of the two singles draws conclude at the US Open in New York on Thursday on a day where the doubles gets as much love as the singles with a couple of standout teams playing on the show courts.
That happens in the night session too which is very much something different but in and around that we have some star names on show as the competition continues to sparkle after Serena’s magical win on Wednesday.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
After being farmed out to the Louis Armstrong Stadium for her opening match, world number one Iga Swiatek gets the action up and running on Ashe on Thursday. She has a blockbuster clash with the former champion Sloane Stephens to navigate before the Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz rounds off the day session when he takes on Federico Coria. There is only one singles match in the night session as it begins with the Williams sisters in doubles action. When the singles return Rafael Nadal will go up against the enigmatic Fabio Fognini.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
The home star Jessica Pegula has a busy day because she is in action twice on Thursday. She opens up the play when she takes on Aliaksandra Sasnovich before the men’s match in the day session sees Jannik Sinner taking on another American player in Christopher Eubanks before the day session concludes with Garbine Muguruza taking on the Czech player Linda Fruhvirtova. There is only one singles match in the night session on this court too and that sees Danielle Collins looking to back up her win over Naomi Osaka in the first round when she takes on Cristina Buksa. The Australian Open doubles champions Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis close out the show.
Grandstand
There are three singles matches on the Grandstand court on Thursday with the first of them looking a very good one as the Cincinnati champion Borna Coric meets the home star Jenson Brooksby. It might take a while but when they are done Petra Kvitova takes on Anna Kalinina before Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff round off the day session when they compete in the doubles. There is one evening session match which sees Frances Tiafoe going up against Jason Kubler.
Court 17
The only one of the show courts which has singles action on it from start to finish on Thursday is Court 17 and it is Victoria Azarenka who gets the show up and running when she meets Marta Kostyuk. Paula Badosa is next onto the court for a meeting with Petra Martic in what should see plenty of clean hitting. The final two matches come in the men’s draw where Grigor Dimitrov takes on Brandon Nakashima before Denis Shapovalov entertains under the lights when he meets Roberto Carballes Baena.
Best of the Rest
Those three doubles matches on the show court means that we have more singles action around the grounds for those with ground passes on site or access to the many streams to enjoy. The former champion Marin Cilic heads up a decent card on Court 5 which also includes the Russian player Andrey Rublev and Aryna Sabalenka while Lorenzo Musetti and Miomir Kecmanovic are on Court 10. Belinda Bencic, Diego Schwartzman and Hubert Hurkacz are some of the other top players dotted around the grounds on Thursday.
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Men’s Betting
There are three bets I like the look of on Thursday in the men’s draw and they begin right from the off when Borna Coric takes on Jenson Brooksby in a match I’m surprised the Cincinnati champion isn’t a clearer favourite for the contest than bookies have him. Many can’t actually split the two and while Brooksby carries a good reputation and had a good run here last year, whether he has the offensive weapons to keep the Croatian at bay I’m less sure. There’s no doubt this could turn into a battle but Coric isn’t exactly against a good tussle. He defeated Tsitipas in five sets here a couple of years ago. There is no doubt that Coric arrives in the better form of the two here. He won in Cincinnati and took care of Musetti, Nadal, Bautista Agut, Auger-Aliassime, Norrie and Tsitsipas in that tournament and that’s as good a list of form as you’ll find anywhere. Brooksby had lost four of his five matches on arrival here and only beat a clearly physically struggling opponent in the first round. I expect a Coric win here.
While I expect one American to be beaten on Thursday I fancy another to progress when Brandon Nakashima takes on Grigor Dimitrov. The fitness of Dimitrov is never to be taken for granted and he could be involved in a real battle here against Nakashima who went well at Wimbledon and could well be set for another decent run in this tournament. Dimitrov arrived here with just two wins in eight matches dating back to Queens and one of them was against someone ranked outside the top 200 in the world. He remains a class act on his best form but clearly he isn’t in that at the minute. Nakashima wasn’t in the best form coming in here but losses in the Masters 1000 events to Cameron Norrie and Aslan Karatsev aren’t necessarily terrible results. I think conditions will suit him here and I expect him to take care of the Bulgarian.
The other bet I like comes along in the night session where Fabio Fognini takes on Rafael Nadal where the price on the Italian to win a set has to be too big. Nadal lost a set in the first round against a player who looked out of his depth before the match and eventually got stagefright but there is no danger of the Italian suffering from that. He has played on the big stages for years. Fognini was 2-0 down to Aslan Karatsev in the first round but the fact he applied himself to come back and win in five suggests he fancies the job this week which is often half the game with him. I don’t necessarily expect Fognini to be the man who beats Nadal this week but the Spaniard isn’t hiding the fact he is less than 100% fit with reports suggesting he is serving at 70% in practice due to pain. We only need Fognini to catch fire for 20 minutes to have him win a set but if Nadal doesn’t sparkle Fognini might not even need his best to win a set. Either way the price is too big for him to achieve something the world number 198 did two nights ago.
Women’s Betting
There is only one bet for me in the women’s draw on Thursday and it comes in the form of what I guess you would call the veteran Kaia Kanepi when she meets an Aryna Sabalenka who she holds a 2-0 head to head advantage against. We all know the power and force that Sabalenka brings to the party but she only needs to be slightly off kilter to turn winners into errors and the more stable Estonian could take advantage if Sabalenka is slightly off it.
Kanepi had a good run to the final in Washington earlier in the US hard court swing and that should stand her in good stead here. It isn’t as though her two wins over Sabalenka are outdated either because one of them was on the way to the quarter final in the Australian Open at the beginning of the year. This match is likely to be played under the lights which might negate a bit of the power in the Belarussian strokes and that can see Kanepi to dumping another high seed out of this draw.
Tips
Back B.Coric to beat J.Brooksby for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back B.Nakashima to beat G.Dimitrov for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Betway
Back F.Fognini to win a set for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Bet365
Back K.Kanepi to beat A.Sabalenka for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Boylesports
Back her here:
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