The second day of the HSBC Championships sees the opening round of the ATP 500 tournament in London coming to a close when another bunch of matches take place across three different courts at Queens Club.
It is a day where we will see the top three seeds on show as well as another bunch of top players, each of whom will be looking to negate the hot conditions and win the two sets that they need to make it into round two.
Andy Murray Arena
When you consider that this is a third tier event, the schedule on the main court on Tuesday is as good as you will find anywhere. It gets underway with the Australian number one Alex de Minaur looking to make it through when he takes on the Czech player Jiri Lehecka. When they are done all eyes will be on the leading Briton in the rankings as Jack Draper steps out on home soil to meet Jenson Brooksby before the number one seed and 2023 champion Carlos Alcaraz looks to make it into the second round when he faces his compatriot Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. An excellent card concludes with the Stuttgart champion from last week, Taylor Fritz, going up against Corentin Moutet.
Court 1
We have a full slate of singles matches on Court 1 too where if you have access to this court either in person or on the live streams you will be sure to see some decent tennis. It starts with the heavy hitting French ace Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard who faces off against Brandon Nakashima before another French-American battle takes place when the well-fancied Ben Shelton meets the lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech. The semi-finalist of a year ago, Jordan Thompson, is third up on the court. Jaume Munar is his opponent and then the schedule on Court 1 concludes with the one Brit on show around the grounds in singles action as Billy Harris takes on the Hertogenbosch winner Gabriel Diallo.
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Court 5
There are two matches left in the singles draw in the opening round and they both take place out on Court 5. We have an all-Aussie affair in the first of them when the Canadian Open champion of last year, Alexei Popyrin, meets the qualifier Aleksandar Vukic. When they are done the huge serving American player Reilly Opelka will look to make it into the second round in conditions which should really suit him. Camilo Ugo Carabelli is the man who will be looking to stop him and reach the last 16 himself.
Betting
There isn’t a massive amount that stands out to me from a betting point of view over the course of the day but I do wonder if the prices between Alex de Minaur and Jiri Lehecka are a little too far apart from the contest we will actually see. We haven’t seen the Australian since the French Open where he surrendered a two set lead to Alexander Bublik and then cited fatigue after a busy schedule after the match. That was a couple of weeks ago but now you wonder if he will be rusty, with this being his first game on grass.
That isn’t the for Lehecka who won a couple of matches in Stuttgart last week before he lost to Ben Shelton which isn’t a bad result. De Minaur doesn’t have a big serve that is going to blow the Czech away and their only previous meeting, on a hard court in the Davis Cup just over 18 months ago went the distance so there is nothing to suggest this is a 2/5 vs 15/8 sort of match. The Czech missed the whole of the 2024 grass season but he reached the last 16 at Wimbledon in 2023 before having to retire during the match with Daniil Medvedev so Lehecka can play on this surface and I think he’s more of a problem for de Minaur than these odds suggest.
Tips
Back J.Lehecka to beat A.de Minaur for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Sky Bet
