The US Open gets underway in New York on Monday and it does so with a wonderful looking schedule of play which mixes the current stars in with former champions and those bidding to revive their career on what should be an excellent day of tennis at Flushing Meadows.
We have to wait until Tuesday to see the two number one seeds on show but the likes of Alexander Zverev, Andy Murray, Naomi Osaka, Daniil Medvedev and Aryna Sabalenka are just some of the players gracing the show courts to keep us entertained on Monday.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
The action begins on the main court with two women who have competed in the final of this tournament when the former champion Sloane Stephens takes on the former finalist Madison Keys who surprisingly is unseeded in this event. When they are done the eye catching men’s first round match between another player who had their hands on this title in the past, Andy Murray, and a potential champion this year in the Greek ace Stefanos Tsitsipas, finish off the day session.
The night session gets underway on Ashe with the defending women’s champion on show when Naomi Osaka faces the Czech player Marie Bouzkova for a place in the second round. This will be the first Grand Slam match for the Japanese ace since the French Open so there will be no shortage of attention on her. The action on the main court concludes with a competitive enough first round match between Daniil Medvedev and Richard Gasquet.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
The action looks to be of a decent standard over on the Louis Armstrong Stadium on Monday as well and it begins with Donna Vekic taking on the former Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza in what should be a really good watch. When they are done two home players will take to the court when John Isner meets Brandon Makashima before the day session is rounded off by the American star Coco Gauff and Magda Linette who could be dangerous if she is allowed.
We have a full night session on Louis Armstrong Stadium as well on Monday and it gets underway with the number two seed Aryna Sabalenka going up against Nina Stojanovic who was the partner of Novak Djokovic in the mixed doubles at the Olympics. The ever exciting Nick Kyrgios is scheduled to round off the play on this court when he faces the ultra-tough Spanish player Roberto Bautista Agut in what also looks like a cracking first round contest.
Grandstand
The good matches keep on coming on the show courts on Monday and starting the play on Grandstand is the Montreal champion Camila Giorgi and the former Wimbledon winner Simona Halep. Andrey Rublev follows those as he looks to back up his run to the final of the Cincinnati event when he takes on the big serving Ivo Karlovic before Casper Ruud gets his campaign underway in what might be the last time Jo-Wilfried Tsonga graces the courts in New York. The final match on the court sees the 2020 finalist Victoria Azarenka meeting Tereza Martincova.
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Court 17
The other show court is Court 17 and it is our outright bet Felix Auger-Aliassime who will sprinkle stardust on it first up when he meets Evgeny Donskoy before the former women’s champion Angelique Kerber meets the dangerous Dayana Yastremska before the newly married Olympic bronze medallist Elina Svitolina is on show against a Rebecca Marino who has had a decent season so far. Two American players collide to close out the schedule in this part of Flushing Meadows when Frances Tiafoe takes on Christopher Eubanks.
Best of the Rest
If you have an Amazon Prime subscription or are going to take advantage of the bookmaker streams then you’ll have plenty of good players to watch on the outside courts. Diego Schwartzman and Danielle Collins headline the action on Court 5 while there are British players all the way on Court 10 with Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie among those on show. Elise Mertens, Filip Krajinovic, Elena Rybakina, Daria Kasatkina, Ons Jabeur, Cristian Garin, Ugo Humbert, the former champion Marin Cilic and the French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova are just some of the other seeds on show throughout the grounds.
Men’s Betting
I’ll take a couple of matches in the men’s draw to last longer than the games line suggests they will on Monday and the first of those is the one between Andrey Rublev and Ivo Karlovic. I don’t think it is a secret that Rublev struggles against the bigger servers on the tour and there aren’t many bigger than Karlovic even at the age of 42. He was serving like a lunatic still in the qualifying competition so he should be capable of holding serve in these fast conditions. Rublev has an underrated serve as well so I’m expecting to see some tiebreaks in this match and even one of them should be enough to see a 31.5 game line covered. You’d think the ground game of Rublev will get him through when he eventually gets a hold on the Karlovic serve but while he’s doing that the games can tick by and we can get to 32 before this one is done.
The other match I fancy to be an extended one is the one between Cam Norrie and Carlos Alcaraz later in the evening. Norrie has had a good year winning a title in Mexico and although his US hard court campaign hasn’t been the best, he has gone down in close matches. Alcaraz has had some decent wins on the hard surface recently and should be confident he can lay it down to the Briton here in a match I can easily see turning into something of a marathon encounter. Norrie rarely wins matches easily at this level and Alcaraz is certainly a danger. I think they can combine for more than 37.5 games.
Women’s Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets in the women’s draw as well with the first of those being first up when the Montreal champion Camila Giorgi takes on Simona Halep who has to be ring rusty after a series of injuries in recent times. Halep has only played twice since Rome and then pulled out of a second round clash in Cincinnati so it would be an amazing effort if she is fully fit and anything close to her best. Giorgi won a huge tournament in Montreal at the beginning of the month and although things didn’t go to plan in Cincinnati it is often hard to back up a big week straight away so I’ll let her have that. I think she’s the most likely winner here given what we know about the prospective fitness of both women.
The other bet I like in the women’s draw is for the match between Alize Cornet and Ons Jabeur to go beyond 19.5 games. I like Jabeur and am a big fan of hers and I expect her to win this match but Cornet merits a little more respect than what she’s getting here after her run to the final in Chicago last week. Cornet beat Marketa Vondrousova among others last week and ran Svitolina fairly close in the final so she can put up a decent fight against a Jabeur who will need to be at her best to come through here. I still expect that to happen but not in shorter than 19.5 games.
Tips
Back A.Rublev vs I.Karlovic – Over 31.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
Back C.Giorgi to beat S.Halep for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back A.Cornet vs O.Jabeur – Over 19.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
Back C.Norrie vs C.Alcaraz – Over 37.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
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