The second week of the US Open gets underway on Sunday when the round of 16 in the bottom half of both singles draws are played out at Flushing Meadows on a day where we should see plenty more decent tennis.
The singles matches at this tournament will be confined to the two main show courts from here on in which will ensure there are no delays and will also add to the profile of the event and make it easier to follow with only two courts on the go.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
We have four matches on both courts on Sunday with two in each day session and two at night. We begin with the men on the main court as Andrey Rublev will look to make it through to the quarter final when he goes up against a Grigor Dimitrov who has looked very good so far this week. When they are done two American women meet for the second Grand Slam in succession when Coco Gauff continues her title defence against an Emma Navarro who dumped her out of Wimbledon. The night session begins with the men too as Frances Tiafoe looks to make the last eight in New York for a third year in succession when he meets the Canadian Open winner Alexei Popyrin, the player who dispatched Novak Djokovic in the previous round. We conclude a belting looking day on the main court with a repeat of the Olympic final as Qinwen Zheng takes on Donna Vekic.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
The other four matches take place over on the Louis Armstrong Stadium where the women get us up and running as the back to form Paula Badosa meets Yafan Wang who has had a good tournament to date. Two American men follow in the next two matches with a sleeper for the match of the day being second on the court when Casper Ruud takes on Taylor Fritz. When they are done Brandon Nakashima will look to continue what has been a brilliant tournament for him so far when he goes up against Alexander Zverev. The final match on the Armstrong court takes us back to the women’s draw where the second seed Aryna Sabalenka will be looking to make it through to the quarter final when she goes up against the experienced Elise Mertens who had a great win over Madison Keys in the previous round.
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Men’s Betting
We should be in for a decent day in the men’s draw and I’m already hoping that both Alexander Zverev and Frances Tiafoe make it through as they are my outright bets and with Novak Djokovic out of the way in this half of the draw I’m more than hopeful of getting some joy from one of them if they can keep progressing. I wouldn’t put anyone off backing Tiafoe as an outsider against Alexei Popyrin because there will surely be a comedown of some sorts from the Australian but I’m on big Foe outright so that will do me.
I can’t ignore the even money on Grigor Dimitrov to get the better of Andrey Rublev though. It is impossible not to have been impressed with the Bulgarian this week. To be fair, before he went lame at Wimbledon he looked a million dollars and it is clear he is happy with his game. I can never truly trust Rublev not to beat himself and if Dimitrov can get him under early pressure it wouldn’t be a huge shock if the Russian combusts in this heat. This should be the toughest test Dimitrov has had so far but it is one I’m confident he can pass.
Women’s Betting
I usually try and avoid betting on my outright bets in matches but I can’t get out of betting on Emma Navarro. One of the reasons why I backed her outright was because I was confident from the outset that she would get the better of Coco Gauff should the two meet at this stage and I haven’t seen anything to change my mind in that. Gauff has battled through the draw so far but she is nowhere near the player that won this last year and she is vulnerable to a clean hitting Navarro who wiped the floor with her at Wimbledon. This might not be as comfortable because Gauff won’t lack for support or fight as defending champion but there are too many areas of the Gauff game which Navarro can expose.
Talking of motivation, Donna Vekic certainly isn’t going to be short of it in the Olympic final rematch with Qinwen Zheng. The Chinese player got the better of the Croatian in Paris but Vekic is value to turn the tables on a surface she looks much more comfortable on out of the two. Zheng has really had to work to make it this far. She was taken the distance by Amanda Anisimova and Erika Andreeva and Vekic has the tools to rush Zheng which is when she is most vulnerable. This promises to be a cracking end to the day and with Vekic having a solid warm up for this with a match against Peyton Stearns in the last round, I think the Croatian should be supported to get the better of Zheng in what is the first time in the night session on Ashe for the Chinese player. That environment might not bring out her best game.
Tips
Back G.Dimitrov to beat A.Rublev for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
Back E.Navarro to beat C.Gauff for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with William Hill
Back her here:
Back D.Vekic to beat Q.Zheng for a 3/10 stake at 2.80 with Unibet
