We move into the third round of the US Open on Friday, in the singles draws at least and weather permitting at the end of the day we will know half of the last 16 draw heading into the second week of the tournament.
We saw some big names fall out in the second round earlier in the week but for many people the tournament really begins now. This is the first round that seeded players can meet each other and so we should be in for some good matches in line with that.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Another big day of tennis on the main stadium begins with Monica Niculescu taking on Caroline Wozniacki in a rare unseeded battle on Ashe at this time of the tournament. That is followed by Madison Keys against Naomi Osaka before the men’s defending champion Novak Djokovic is court against Mikhail Youzhny.
The night session should be interesting too as Rafael Nadal goes up against Andrey Kuznetsov before the American teenager Catherine Bellis faces the biggest match of her life when she closes out the day against Angelique Kerber.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Last year’s beaten finalist Roberta Vinci is first up on the second court. She faces Carina Witthoeft and then comes the match of the day when Jack Sock takes on Marin Cilic. Another good match follows that as Petra Kvitova and Elina Svitolina collide before big John Isner faces Kyle Edmund in the last match on court.
Grandstand
The popular Jo-Wilfried Tsonga takes on Kevin Anderson to get the action underway out on the wonderful new Grandstand court and then Jo Konta takes on Belinda Bencic. They are followed by the entertaining Gael Monfils who plays Nicolas Almagro before a doubles match rounds off the day.
Best of the Rest
There is an all-seeded battle between Lucas Pouille and Roberto Bautista Agut on Court 17 while Marcos Baghdatis and the conqueror of Garbine Muguruza, Anastasija Sevastova are both out on that court too. Dominika Cibulkova gets the Court 5 treatment and it is doubles elsewhere across the show courts.
Betting
Thursday was an up and down day so hopefully we can build on that on Friday and find another profitable day. I’m going to attack the day with three bets with one coming in the men’s event and two in the women’s competition.
In the men’s draw I expect Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to be too good for Kevin Anderson and I fancy the Frenchman to come through with a bit in hand. I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Tsonga this week and while Anderson is going well after injury I think this match just comes too soon for him. With tie-breaks always possible between these two I’ll go with Tsonga on the set handicap rather than the game one.
Moving over to the women and I’m surprised Jo Konta is only giving up 2.5 games against Belinda Bencic, an opponent I expect her to have far too much for as long as she has recovered from collapsing on Wednesday. The fact she got up and won suggests to be that she’ll be ok. Bencic is coming back from injuries and isn’t at her best whereas the Briton has been showing her best form for the last month. Assuming there are no lingering effects of the last round I fancy Konta strongly here.
I’m also going to take on Petra Kvitova against Elina Svitolina. I don’t usually back players I’m on outright but I’m going to make an exception here twice given the prices. These two met in Rio last month but we shouldn’t take a lot of notice of the one-sided nature of the result because Svitolina had just enjoyed one of the results of her life having beaten Serena Williams in the round before.
I always think Kvitova’s lack of movement counts against her on these courts and Svitolina has the power to expose that weakness in the Czech’s game. Svitolina is playing well at the minute and she’s overpriced for this one in my eyes.
Tips
WON – Back J-W.Tsonga (-1.5 sets) to beat K.Anderson for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back J.Konta (-2.5 games) to beat B.Bencic for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfred
Back her here:
Back E.Svitolina to beat P.Kvitova for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Coral
Back her here:
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