The second round of the US Open concludes in New York on Thursday when another decent day of action takes place across the entire Flushing Meadows complex and we finalise the third round draw in both singles competitions.
We started seeing the really big names fall by the wayside on Wednesday with Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Victoria Azarenka among those who saw their US Open end. The stars on show on Thursday will be aiming to avoid joining them.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Once again we have two day session matches on the main court and it is the men who get us underway when the former champion Andy Murray graces the big stage once again for a tasty looking clash with Grigor Dimitrov, who survived a five-set epic in the first round. When they are done the home star Madison Keys will close out the day session. She has a meeting with the veteran Yanina Wickmayer who is looking to make full use of her lucky loser position.
The night session looks spectacular once again in New York on Thursday evening. The world number one Carlos Alcaraz will get it underway when he continues his title defence with a second round clash against the South African player Lloyd Harris, who’ll need to be at his best to contain the Spaniard. The action on Ashe concludes with Jessica Pegula looking to make progress in her home Grand Slam when she takes on Patricia Maria Tig.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
There is another good looking schedule over on the Louis Armstrong Stadium on Thursday and we have a battle of two Italians opening the show when Jannik Sinner takes on Lorenzo Sonego in what should be a high energy match. It is British day at Flushing Meadows on Thursday and the second match sees Jodie Burrage taking on the Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka before the day session concludes with the Wimbledon semi-finalist Elina Svitolina going up against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The night session over on Armstrong looks a belter as well and it begins with Daria Kasatkina taking on the former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin who will be hoping to make it through to the third round of her home Slam. Daniil Medvedev is looking to reclaim the title that he won in 2021 and he gets the honour of closing the show over on the second court when he meets the Australian player Christopher O’Connell.
Grandstand
The Grandstand is always a popular court with the fans and that is likely to be the case on Thursday as well. One of the reasons for that is because two American wildcards meet in the opening match when John Isner continues the final event of his career when he meets Michael Mmoh. When they are done the Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova will be back in action to take on Martina Trevisan before we head back to the men’s draw for a potentially cracking clash between Gael Monfils and the eighth seed Andrey Rublev. The final match on this court sees the beaten finalist of a year ago Ons Jabeur going up against Linda Noskova.
Court 17
The other show court at Flushing Meadows is Court 17 and there is another decent schedule on there too. It begins with two German players meeting when the former finalist Alexander Zverev takes on Daniel Altmaier before Stan Wawrinka looks to make it into the third round in New York once again when he goes up against Tomas Martin Etcheverry. It is the women who close out the show when Marie Bouzkova goes up against Petra Martic before two qualifiers meet in a big clash for both as Greet Minnen looks to build on her win over Venus Williams when she faces Sachia Vickery.
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Best of the Rest
We still have enough singles matches on the outside courts with a number of seeds dotted around the grounds mixed in with the doubles action. Nicolas Jarry headlines the show over on Court 5 while on Court 11 the likes of Ekaterina Alexandrova, Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans are on the schedule. Hubert Hurkacz, Karolina Pliskova, Liudmila Samsonova and Alex de Minaur are other seeded players who can be seen on the outside courts.
Men’s Betting
I like three in the men’s draw on Thursday with the first of them coming in the match between Andy Murray and Grigor Dimitrov which opens up the day session on Arthur Ashe. Murray had a rare routine win in the opening round when he took care of Corentin Moutet in straight sets. The same can’t be said of the Bulgarian who found himself a couple of sets down to Alex Molcan and while he came back to win, battling for 4hr40 in the heat and humidity of Tuesday is not a good opener and you would imagine some of that battle will still be in his legs ahead of this one. Murray will know that he leads Dimitrov 8-2 on hard courts and that will give him confidence and with this not really being a great Slam for the Bulgarian historically I think he’s vulnerable to a Murray who will probably only see his chances improve the longer this one goes and he certainly isn’t going to fade away. I like the Brit there.
I don’t however like the Brit in another match where Dan Evans is just way too inconsistent for my liking. He won in Washington but then duly lost in the first match in Toronto and Cincinnati and while he had a solid enough win over Daniel Elahi Gahan in the opening round I think he’ll need to improve to see off Botic van de Zandschulp, who will have positive memories of this tournament as it was here that he made his big breakthrough when he reached the quarter final a couple of years ago. On these fast courts the heavy groundstrokes of the Dutchman can cause some damage and while his form hasn’t been how he would have wanted it in 2023, these conditions should bring the best out of him and he’ll be fresh as a daisy after his first round opponent Jordan Thompson retired after just 47 minutes. Van de Zandschulp feels a big price in this one.
The other men’s bet I like is Gael Monfils to see off Andrey Rublev. I was keen to take on Rublev in the first round but his opponent Emil Ruusuvuori withdrew with illness which was unfortunate. To be fair to Rublev, he came through quite comfortably against the lucky loser replacement but he’ll have his work more cut out here. Monfils needed four sets to see off Taro Daniel in the first round but he showed he is prepared to battle in this match. The Frenchman has seen off the likes of Alexander Bublik, Christopher Eubanks, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Cameron Norrie and Alex de Minaur in a US hard court swing which has seen him go 8-4 so far so he’s in decent form. That first round win was the first of the summer for Rublev and he has more to prove in this one. I’ll side with the Frenchman at the prices.
Women’s Betting
Just the one bet interests me in the women’s draw on Thursday and that sees Marie Bouzkova taking on Petra Martic in a clash which I like the Czech to come through. You could argue 8/11 is no more than a reasonable price and that would be fair enough but I would have her a little shorter than that based on the two hard court campaigns that they have put together, and the fact that I would rate Bouzkova as the better player.
Bouzkova has seen off the likes of Caroline Garcia, Elise Mertens and Jessica Pegula since Wimbledon and has the sort of heavy game which should suit these courts and conditions. Martic performs well at the lower levels but has never really done it at the Grand Slams and I think she’ll have her work cut out here. The Croat arrived in New York 2-3 since Wimbledon and while her win over Tatjana Maria was emphatic in the first round I fancy her to be outmatched here.
Tips
Back A.Murray to beat G.Dimitrov for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with BetVictor
Back G.Monfils to beat A.Rublev for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Betfair
Back B.van de Zandschulp to beat D.Evans for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Bet365
Back M.Bouzkova to beat P.Martic for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Boylesports
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