The first real day of competition in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics sees the tennis events starting. This isn’t like a Grand Slam where the singles begin before the doubles. Here the only event not to start on the first day is the mixed doubles which comes along later in the week.
We have a cracking card to open up the tournament with the top two in the men’s draw on show on Centre Court as well as the last two French Open champions. Around the grounds there are plenty of other star names on show for those focusing on the tennis streams through the night.
Men’s Singles
Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev are the stars on show on Saturday but the likes of Marin Cilic, Pablo Carreno Busta, Lorenzo Sonego, Aslan Karatsev and Fabio Fognini all get their quest for the gold medal up and running. There is also players like Ugo Humbert, Lorenzo Musetti and Jeremy Chardy are also taking to the courts.
I’ve gone through the card in the men’s event on Saturday and there isn’t a whole lot I like. I’d like to see how the courts play before I get too stuck into the tournament and while there was one or two I had on the shortlist, the price is either a little skinny or the lines are just slightly big so in the end I’ll keep my powder dry and see what we have to offer in the women’s draw on the opening day of action.
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Women’s Singles
The French Open champion and the form horse in the women’s draw Barbora Krejcikova is the star attraction on the first day of the competition on Saturday. There is a decent support card on the schedule with Iga Swiatek, Belinda Bencic, Elena Rybakina, Kiki Bertens, Maria Sakkari, Paula Badosa and Alison Riske all on show.
There is just the one bet that I like in this draw and that comes over on Court 1 where I think Jessica Pegula can be too good and too powerful for a Belinda Bencic who has all the credentials to go well in any tournament but her form isn’t something that inspires confidence. To be fair, Pegula hasn’t exactly been pulling up any trees herself recently but I think she’s a pure hard court player and I expect her to come good now she is on the surface that she enjoys. I think she can cover a 2.5 game line here.
Doubles
As I said at the start, the doubles begins on the opening day of action out in Tokyo and this is a competition that we’ll get involved with a little later in the competition once we get a feel for how the put together partnerships to get players from the same nations are shaping up. Those who do want to get involved in the competition could probably side with the French pair of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert who take on Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury but the British pair really could be anything there. I’ll side with the singles bet here.
Tips
Back J.Pegula (-2.5 games) to beat B.Bencic for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
Back her here:
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