The opening day of the 2015 US Open sees both defending champions begin their defence of the title on a schedule which has plenty of big guns making their bow in the tournament.
In the day session Marin Cilic begins his defence of the men’s title against Guido Pella of Argentina while the evening session kicks off with Serena taking on Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko in her first match of her title defence. The night session also has Rafael Nadal back in New York for the first time since he won the title in 2013.
Also in action on the opening day are Novak Djokovic, last year’s male runner-up Kei Nishikori, David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic while on the women’s side of the draw there are appearances from Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams, Karolina Pliskova, Madison Keys, Eugenie Bouchard and Belinda Bencic.
All courts are in use on the opening day so anyone who has a ground pass in New York will have their choice of some great players and some good matches. Those of us nowhere near Flushing will effectively have our own ground pass as most bookmaker sites are streaming the show courts.
I actually like three bets on the opening day. First up involves the match between Sam Groth and Alexandr Dolgopolov. Dolgopolov has been in really good touch in recent times. He made the semi-finals in Nottingham and then in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago. In that run in Cincinnati he beat some good players Bernard Tomic and Tomas Berdych before taking Novak Djokovic the distance. The Ukrainian has also beaten Rafael Nadal at Queens so he’s going well.
Sam Groth is building a reputation for himself as a big server and these courts should be to his liking. If we think back to Wimbledon the Australian took a set off Roger Federer there and you don’t do that if you’re all serve and nothing else. In Washington earlier in the month Groth took care of Bellucci, Lopez and Troicki so he’s also in good form.
I’m expecting this one to be fairly close and I would be surprised if there isn’t four sets in the match. With Groth’s serve you think he will buy himself a tie-break or two and a couple of them in a four setter should see a 40.5 games line safely covered. If it is any closer than that we’re covered too so as long as this isn’t a straight sets blowout, and given the form of both I can’t see it being, we should see at least 41 games.
The other bet I like in the men’s event on Monday is Borna Coric to beat Rafael Nadal with a 6.5 games start. Coric has actually won their only previous meeting in Switzerland last year and he has come on leaps and bounds since then. He is now up to 35 in the world and that is only increasing. Coric is a typical youngster who has no fear and with nothing to lose under lights he could be dangerous.
Rafael Nadal hasn’t really looked himself all year. He’s won a couple of titles on clay but off the dirt he has looked vulnerable and even if he comes through this match I don’t think it is going to be without a scare. Nadal would only be human if he didn’t feel a few nerves ahead of this match and if it takes him a set or so to hit top speed then Coric could have built up enough of an advantage to coast in with his head start.
In the women’s draw there are a few seeds I’d like to take on not least Ana Ivanovic and Carla Suarez Navarro. Ivanovic has the dangerous Slovakian player Dominika Cibulkova in the opening match on Ashe and the powerful Cibulkova could cause Ivanovic problems but her form is just enough of a concern for me to leave that. Suarez Navarro’s form has disappeared but she hasn’t really got an opponent to take her on with.
Eugenie Bouchard is another seed who has completely lost her form and she is one I am going to take on. The Canadian came into this tournament as a leading contender 12 months ago but she has only won 5 matches since the Australian Open and I can’t be having anyone in that form at odds on no matter how much potential they have.
Bouchard is up against the American player Alison Riske. On an intimate Court 17 which is going to have some noisy American’s cheering for Riske this just has the look of a banana skin about it. Bouchard leads their head to head 4-1 including a win in Eastbourne earlier in the year but her form is such a concern that Riske, who has been as high as 40 in the world before so is clearly no mug, looks a fair bet at even money.
Back S.Groth vs A.Dolgopolov – Over 40.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Stan James
Back B.Coric (+6.5 games) to beat R.Nadal for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Unibet
Back A.Riske to beat E.Bouchard for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with BetVictor
