The second day of action at Flushing Meadows will see the first round of the US Open completed in both the men’s and the women’s draw on what is going to be another busy but exciting day of tennis on Tuesday.
Just like with the first day on Monday there are some really big names on show with both Wimbledon champions in the night session and a whole host of other top stars providing the support cast earlier in the day.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
One of those stars kicks things off on Ashe when Simona Halep takes on Kirsten Flipkens before Stan Wawrinka begins another quest for a first US Open title against Fernando Verdasco. The day session concludes with Venus Williams going up against Kateryna Kozlova.
The evening session is mouth-watering it has to be said as Serena Williams goes in search of the Grand Slam title which will take her past Steffi Graf’s modern era record. She has it tough though against Ekaterina Makarova. Andy Murray follows that match when he plays Lukas Rosol.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Former world number one Ana Ivanovic gets things underway across the complex from Ashe when she faces Denisa Allertova. Sam Querrey is next on that court as he looks to build on his win over Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon when he takes on Janko Tipsarevic and then comes the all Argentine clash between Juan Martin del Potro and Diego Schwartzman. The last match on this court sees Agnieszka Radwanska playing Jessica Pegula.
Grandstand
The new Grandstand court was a hit on the opening day and Kei Nishikori will start the second day of action on it. He faces Benjamin Becker before Eugenie Bouchard meets Katerina Siniakova in the women’s draw. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova faces Louisa Chirico while the last match on the court in the evening time is Steve Johnson vs Evgeny Donskoy.
Best of the Rest
There are big seeds and great matches everywhere you look on the outside courts on Tuesday with David Goffin and Karolina Pliskova the star attractions out on Court 17 while the Court 5 clash between Feliciano Lopez and Borna Coric looks particularly interesting.
It is Australians all the way on the Old Grandstand court which I’m delighted is being used again this year. There is sure to be a fantastic atmosphere on that court with the headline matches being Sam Stosur vs Camila Giorgi and Nick Kyrgios vs Britain’s Aljaz Bedene.
Going further around the complex the likes of Carla Suarez Navarro, David Ferrer, Grigor Dimitrov, Dominic Thiem and Ivo Karlovic are all in action so there is plenty to watch either on Eurosport or on the various Bet365 streams.
Betting
Having seen how the courts are playing the bets come thick and fast for me on Tuesday with two in the men’s draw and a further three in the women’s draw. We’ll begin with the men.
The courts look to be playing very quickly so Nicolas Mahut isn’t going to be easy to face for anyone least of all Philipp Kohlschreiber and at odds against I fancy the Frenchman to come through there. He had a good run in the grass court season and his doubles displays keep him in good shape too. The German Kohlschreiber hasn’t been pulling up too many trees recently and he has pulled out of a couple of tournaments in the last six weeks or so as well so he looks there to be taken on to me.
A couple of month’s back I took Fernando Verdasco to see off Stan Wawrinka at Queens and he duly did and while I’m not going to back him to win this match as well I do like him with a 5.5 game handicap. There is a lot of talk about Wawrinka struggling with a back issue going into this tournament and Verdasco could well grind him down and if not win certainly keep it close enough, possibly pinching a set or two. If Wawrinka is feeling it physically he might go easy if he falls behind in a set so that handicap looks good to me.
In the women’s draw I’m going to take on Ana Ivanovic in her match with Denisa Allertova. It is fair to say Allertova isn’t the best player in the world but she does have a win over Angelique Kerber this year and she had a couple of decent wins in the Australian Open earlier in the year. Ivanovic never convinces me on the big stages and she looks good to take on.
The opening match on Ashe sees Simona Halep taking on Kirsten Flipkens in what could be a tiring match to watch let alone to play in as both women chase down every ball no matter what the situation. I would be surprised if Halep doesn’t win the match but 6.5 games is a big start for someone as tough as Flipkens and I’ll take her to ride that through the match.
Finally I very rarely take Serena Williams on but she isn’t fully fit we know that much and as such 5.5 games on the side of Ekaterina Makarova is just a couple of games too high to ignore. She is an awkward customer at the best of times but if Serena is a little rusty from a lack of recent activity then the Russian can stay close in the first set, if not win it, and then hang on in the second one.
Tips
WON – Back N.Mahut to beat P.Kohlschreiber for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Betfair
Back him here:
WON – Back F.Verdasco (+5.5 games) to beat S.Wawrinka for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back E.Makarova (+5.5 games) to beat S.Williams for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back them here:
WON – Back D.Allertova to beat A.Ivanovic for a 3/10 stake at 3.25 with Ladbrokes
Back her here:
Back K.Flipkens (+6.5 games) to beat S.Halep for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfred
Back her here:
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