The second round of the US Open gets underway on what is another busy day on the schedule at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday and once again we get to see some of the stars of the game on show across the various courts out in New York.
The majority of the very big names made it through the first round and are into the tournament now and as a result we should see the quality notch up a bit which is what everyone watching will want.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
The day begins with the former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova taking on Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey before the match of the day in the women’s draw as Caroline Wozniacki takes on Svetlana Kuznetsova and then the day session concludes with Novak Djokovic facing Jiri Vesely.
The night session is a Spanish affair as Garbine Muguruza takes on Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia before Rafael Nadal takes to the courts again to face Andreas Seppi of Italy.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Last year’s runner up Roberta Vinci gets play underway on Armstrong when she takes on Christina McHale of the United States before John Isner plays Steve Darcis. Angelique Kerber gets to sample the atmosphere of the second court when she faces Mirjana Lucic-Baroni before the session finishes with Jack Sock playing Mischa Zverev of Germany.
Grandstand
Vasek Pospisil and Kevin Anderson start play out on the new Grandstand court before Ryan Harrison meets Milos Raonic. It is America all the way after that as Shelby Rogers faces Catherine Bellis and finally Madison Keys goes up against Kayla Day.
Best of the Rest
There are some decent looking matches on the outside courts with Andrea Petkovic and Belinda Bencic catching the eye on the schedule out on Court 17. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils will also entertain the crowd on that court.
Big names are littered all around the complex including the 2014 champion Marin Cilic out on Court 5, Elina Svitolina – Serena’s conqueror in the Olympics, on the Old Grandstand and Roberto Bautista Agut, winner last week. The doubles tournaments also begin on Wednesday too to further add to the entertainment.
Betting
It was a decent day betting wise for us on Tuesday and I’m going in with a few on Wednesday’s card as well. I’ll begin with the men where there are four bets I like. They begin with Vasek Pospisil against Kevin Anderson. The South African won his first Grand Slam match of the year on Monday after injuries have dogged his campaign but I think he could be worth taking on here.
Vasek Pospisil isn’t the best player in the world but he should come alive in these conditions. He has a big serve and some big ground strokes and he is likely to force a few tie-breaks if he doesn’t get a hold on Anderson’s serve. In a match which could go either way and depend on a point here or there the Canadian looks overpriced.
Straight after that match on the same Grandstand court there will be a decent crowd for Ryan Harrison against Milos Raonic and they might see a longer match than they expect too. Harrison is a big power player who can take it to the big servers and while you’ve got to think Raonic will win a straight sets win isn’t a certainty and even if it is you would think they would be lengthy sets. With that in mind over 32.5 games looks to have every chance.
Roberto Bautista Agut looks to be in the form of his life at the minute and he can use that to his advantage when he takes on Federico Delbonis. The Argentine looked to be heading out of this tournament in the first round when he was two sets down to Brian Baker but he managed to turn that around although 3hrs44 in intense conditions won’t have done his energy much good.
Bautista Agut is hitting the ball really nicely and although he dropped a set against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez he is a decent level opponent and the match was later in the day so it wouldn’t have been as energy zapping. Delbonis is nothing special and I expect him to be dismissed pretty easily.
Finally I’m going to take on Novak Djokovic again. If I’m totally honest I’d have liked him to be facing an opponent who didn’t go five sets in the previous round but Jiri Vesely did at least play at night. We’ve seen throughout this month that Djokovic is being overpowered and the Czech has the game to do that too.
I thought Djokovic was there for the taking in the first round but Jerzy Janowicz ran out of steam halfway in. I’m not sure that Vesely will so at the very least I think he can stay within 8.5 games with his heavy serve and groundstrokes and if Djokovic continues to struggle physically Vesely could even get the win.
In the women’s draw I like Belinda Bencic first up. She faces the fast fading Andrea Petkovic and that looks a good match up for the Swiss star who is looking to climb back up the rankings after an injury littered season. Petkovic has problems on and off the court and while she won her opening match there wasn’t a whole lot that was convincing about it. Bencic made her breakthrough here two years ago and can use those memories to come through this match.
Finally as much as I like Caroline Wozniacki I have to take her on in the big match of the day. Svetlana Kuznetsova was ruthless in taking care of business against Francesca Schiavone in the first round and she now faces an opponent against whom she has won four of the last five meetings against including at Wimbledon earlier in the season.
Wozniacki made it through against Taylor Townsend in the first round but if she doesn’t up her game she’ll get blasted off court here. Wozniacki just doesn’t have the weapons to hurt Kuznetsova and I expect her to be comfortably seen off.
Tips
Back V.Pospisil to beat K.Anderson for a 3/10 stake at 4.00 with Skybet
Back him here:
WON – Back R.Harrison vs M.Raonic – Over 32.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfair
Back it here:
WON – Back R.Bautista Agut (-6.5 games) to beat F.Delbonis for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfred
Back it here:
VOID – Back J.Vesely (+8.5 games) to beat N.Djokovic for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back him here:
WON – Back B.Bencic to beat A.Petkovic for a 4/10 stake at 2.04 with 888sport
Back her here:
Back S.Kuznetsova (-3.5 games) to beat C.Wozniacki for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Ladbrokes
Back her here:
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