It is the first day of the US Open tennis tournament in New York on Monday with the men’s and women’s singles getting underway at Flushing Meadows. It might be the first day of action but we get some of the biggest names in the game on the courts right from the start.
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza and Milos Raonic are all among the plethora of names on show on Monday and all will be looking to get off to a flying start.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
The play on Ashe begins with last year’s runner up Roberta Vinci. Having stopped the Serena Slam it will be interesting to see what reception she gets when she takes on Anna-Lena Friedsam. Angelique Kerber then steps onto court to play Polona Hercog while Rafael Nadal plays Denis Istomin.
The evening session begins with Novak Djokovic against Jerzy Janowicz after the opening ceremony before the opening day concludes with Madison Keys taking on Alison Riske in an all-American clash to keep the crowds interested.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
The 2014 champion Marin Cilic is first up on the second court. He faces Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil before Francesca Schiavone takes on Svetlana Kuznetsova in a battle of the Grand Slam champions and then Garbine Muguruza goes up against Elise Mertens. The later game sees Jack Sock taking on the highly touted Taylor Fritz.
Grandstand
Caroline Wozniacki is first on the new Grandstand court. She faces Taylor Townsend in the first round and then John Isner takes on Frances Tiafoe of the States. That is followed by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against Guido Andreozzi and then the schedule concludes with Britain’s number one Jo Konta against Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Best of the Rest
There are some decent matches on the outside courts for those who have a ground pass on the first day. Gael Monfils vs Gilles Muller out on Court 17 should be good with Belinda Bencic, Milos Raonic and Dominika Cibulkova the other seeds in action out there.
Britain’s Kyle Edmund takes on Richard Gasquet over on Court 5 while there is a decent schedule over on the old Grandstand which is my favourite course on the complex. There is a fairly good schedule on Court 12 too including the former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
Betting
Anyone who has followed the site for the previous two Grand Slams will know I’m not one to go too deep on the opening day. I like to see how the courts play before wading in and the big names all have to give up pretty big handicaps when just winning and getting into the tournament is the priority. There are three bets I like though.
The first is the match between Mikhail Youzhny and Martin Klizan out on Court 14 where Klizan looks a decent price to me at around the 4/5 mark. Both their previous meetings have gone the way of Klizan although in fairness they have both gone the distance in the final set but Youzhny is on the down trend while Klizan is probably going as well this year as he has ever done having won a couple of titles.
Klizan has been off the court for a month having given the Olympics a miss but freshness might not be a bad thing especially against an aging opponent and so at the price I think Klizan is a good thing. I’d have him a good deal shorter.
In the women’s draw I don’t get how Sara Errani is the price she is. I readily accept she isn’t having her best season and she might be past her best but her opponent Shelby Rogers has only won one match since the French Open so her confidence must be at rock bottom. Being a home player she might find some inspiration but at the same time she might want to win too much and not perform.
Errani might be fading but she can handle the big occasion and she’ll scrap for every point. We saw at the Olympics that she can still see off the better players when she beat Kiki Bertens and Barbora Strycova and a repeat of either of those performances should see her through this opening match.
In the night session all eyes will be on Novak Djokovic to see how fit he is after announcing that his wrist injury is still an issue on Friday. He takes on Jerzy Janowicz for the first time in their careers on Monday evening and I think this one can be closer than the odds suggest.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Janowicz wins a set if Djokovic is really struggling but it might take Djokovic a few games to get a handle on the Pole’s serve. If that is the case then the first set can be a tight affair which ensures we see more than 27.5 games. Whether Janowicz wins a set or not that line looks a touch low given the doubts over the world number one.
Tips
Back M.Klizan to beat M.Youzhny for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
Back S.Errani to beat S.Rogers for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Boylesports
Back her here:
WON – Back N.Djokovic vs J.Janowicz – Over 27.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Betfair
Back it here:
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