The first round of the US Open will conclude at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday when the other half of the singles draws to the one which got played on Monday open up their campaign in the final major of the season.
We saw some big names on show over the course of Monday and on Tuesday we get the defending men’s champion opening up his title defence while plenty of other big names will grace the courts in New York.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
As has been the case earlier in the tournament, we have two matches in the day session on the main court and it is the 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev who will be first up on Arthur Ashe when he goes up against the Hungarian player Attila Balazs. When they are done one of the pick of the women’s matches takes place when Jessica Pegula takes on Camila Giorgi in what looks like a good way to round off the day proceedings.
Two more matches come along in the night session and they begin with the legend Venus Williams who opens up play in what might be her last US Open. She meets the qualifier Greet Minnen in what is sure to create a wonderful atmosphere. It is the men who conclude the action on the main court when Carlos Alcaraz begins the defence of his title. The Wimbledon champion takes on the competent German player Dominik Koepfer.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
The beaten finalist of last season gets the three day session matches underway when Ons Jabeur, who has now competed in three of the last five Grand Slam finals, meets Camila Osorio. When they are done Madison Keys will be on show in what is her home Slam when she meets Arantxa Rus. The last match in the day session sees the wildcard John Isner beginning the final tournament of his career when he goes up against Facundo Diaz Acosta.
Jannik Sinner comes into the tournament as one of the fancied runners having come out on top in Toronto and he begins his latest quest for a maiden Grand Slam when he goes up against the German player Yannick Hanfmann. The Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka then closes out the show when she is second up in the night session against the Belgian player Maryna Zanevska to round off a good schedule on Armstrong.
Grandstand
We have four matches which are all scheduled for the day session over on Grandstand, although if Monday is anything to go by it could move into the evening. We begin with Ekaterina Alexandrova takes on the finalist of 2021, Leylah Fernandez. Two former champions grace the stage in the next two matches beginning with Andy Murray who takes on Corentin Moutet. When they are done Stan Wawrinka is the second former winner on show when he meets Yoshihito Nishioka. The schedule on the Grandstand concludes with the former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin meets Ana Bogdan.
Court 17
The other show court at Flushing Meadows comes over on Court 17 where the 2020 finalist Alexander Zverev takes on Aleksandar Vukic in what could be an awkward encounter. The second match on Court 17 sees the Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova starting out on her quest for successive Grand Slam titles when she meets the qualifier Na-Lae Han. Elina Svitolina reminded us all of her class when she made the semi-final at Wimbledon and she opens up her campaign against Anna-Lena Friedsam. Taro Daniel and Gael Monfils close out a good looking order of play on Court 17.
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Best of the Rest
Once again we have 64 singles matches on show over the course of the day which means that 47 of them will be on the outside courts with a number of seeded players on show around the grounds. Court 5 was a graveyard for the seeds on Monday and Caroline Garcia and Andrey Rublev will be hoping it is a little kinder to them. Daria Kasatkina, Marie Bouzkova, Grigor Dimitrov, Hubert Hurkacz, Liudmila Samsonova, Cameron Norrie, Alex de Minaur, Karen Khachanov and Barbora Krejcikova are some of the many seeds who can be seen away from the show courts.
Men’s Betting
I like two bets in the men’s draw on Tuesday with one of them having recency bias attached to them and the first one taking on a Karen Khachanov who I have actually been keen on for the last 12 months. I was on him when he reached the semi-finals in Australia earlier in the year but he suffered a stress fracture of the back and has pulled out of singles in the two American hard court Masters events that he was scheduled to return in. He did play doubles in Cincinnati but no singles action since the French Open makes him vulnerable to me. In an ideal world someone stronger than Michael Mmoh would be on the other side of the net but to be fair to Mmoh he took care of Hubert Hurkacz in Washington and took Borna Coric to a deciding set in Winston-Salem last week. That makes me think he can be competitive and it might be that the longer this goes the better his chances are. I’ll take him to see off a Khachanov who might only be competing in the hope of being able to defend some of his semi-final points from last year rather than having any expectations on his shoulders.
The other two bets are repeats of matches we have seen in the US hard court swing. Sebastian Baez met Borna Coric on his way to the title in Winston-Salem last week. That was his second title in succession so he brings a lot of winning momentum into this one with him. There was only a deciding tiebreak between them last week which immediately makes me think that the Argentine is value but I don’t really want the small margins to go the other way. There is a chance Coric struggles with the humidity which is going to be a big factor on Tuesday. Even if he doesn’t, Baez is going to be no pushover and so I’ll take him to cover a 3.5 handicap over the course of this one.
Women’s Betting
There is only one match where I’m comfortable betting in the women’s draw on Tuesday and that comes in the night session match on Arthur Ashe where it kind of goes without saying that Venus Williams is going to be heavily motivated to play well and come through when she meets Greet Minnen, who looks like a good opening dance partner given that she will not be used to stages such as this one and also the fact that the Belgian needed three sets in two of her qualifying matches.
They came against the world numbers 177 and 325 which suggests that she is anything but bulletproof and with this likely to be the last US Open for Venus we know she is going to have all of the crowd behind her. If you go back a year ago Serena carried a lot of attention and crowd support and even on the opening night Coco Gauff had the whole of New York behind her. Venus has put in some encouraging performances in Cincinnati and I think the occasion and the stage will propel her to winning this one.
Tips
Back M.Mmoh to beat K.Khachanov for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back S.Baez (+3.5 games) to beat B.Coric for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with 888sport
Back him here:
Back V.Williams to beat G.Minnen for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Spreadex
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