We enter the second week of the US Open tennis event, the final Grand Slam of the year, on Monday and we do so with a mouth-watering cast list on what is Labor Day out in New York which should ensure big crowds who will want high class action.
Andy Murray, Kei Nishikori, Juan Martin del Potro, Stan Wawrinka, the Williams’ sisters and Simona Halep are just some of the star names on show on what is the eighth day of action inside the Flushing Meadows complex.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
The order of matches are swapped around on Monday with the men before the women in both sessions. Dominic Thiem and Juan Martin del Potro get things going on the main court on Monday before the big women’s match of the day when Karolina Pliskova takes on Venus Williams. The day session finishes with Serena Williams against Yaroslava Shvedova.
The evening session doesn’t see the cast list relent any. Andy Murray and Grigor Dimitrov get things underway and then the day concludes on Ashe with Agnieszka Radwanska taking on Ana Konjuh for a quarter final spot.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
The other three remaining singles matches are on this court, weather permitting, and that could be a big factor as there is a storm said to be lingering in the area. Carla Suarez Navarro goes up against Simona Halep in the first match before Stan Wawrinka takes on Illya Marchenko. Kei Nishikori meets Ivo Karlovic in the last singles match before a mixed doubles quarter final finishes the action.
Grandstand
As with all the of the other courts on Monday it is doubles all the way with the French number one seeds in the men’s doubles draw and Jamie Murray among the headline attractions on what should be a decent day of pairs.
Betting
I’m writing this while the night session on Sunday is still going on so I don’t know how all of the Day 7 recommended bets have done but I’m still going with three on Monday in matches which I fancy will be tighter than the odds compilers expect.
We’ll start off right off the bat with the women’s match on Armstrong when Carla Suarez Navarro meets Simona Halep. These two will know each other well. They’ve met on 10 previous occasions and seven of them have gone the full three sets including four of the last five meetings.
On hard courts four of their five battles have gone to three sets as well and so there is plenty of reason to believe this one will go the distance as well. Halep just got taken the distance while Suarez Navarro looks to be playing great tennis and will test the Romanian. CSN has only ever won once in straight sets against Halep and so history and form suggests we’ll see more than 20.5 games here.
Moving onto the men’s tournament and Stan Wawrinka knows he is a lucky boy to still be in the tournament. Had Dan Evans not cramped up he could well have taken Wawrinka out in the previous round. Wawrinka looked rubbish for two sets of that match and said afterwards that Armstrong isn’t his favourite court because of how fast it is.
I don’t think that is going to bother Illya Marchenko. Nick Kyrgios hit him with some punishing artillery before he retired on Saturday night and the man from Ukraine dealt with most of it and sent it back with interest. I think the fact this match is on Armstrong not Ashe benefits Marchenko and so I’m happy to back him to take a set.
I’m going to take Grigor Dimitrov to win a set as well. The reason for that is similar to that above in that Andy Murray was rotten for two sets in his previous match against an opponent unlikely to be able to cause as many problems as Dimitrov can.
This will be the 10th time these two will meet in competitive play and Murray leads 6-3 but he’s only won one of the last six matches in straight sets. I feared Murray might be overcooked coming into the tournament and there were certainly signs that could be the case on Saturday.
Dimitrov is playing very well at the minute and he has one of Murray’s former coaches in his corner so he’ll get the inside tactical advice that he needs. Whether all of that is enough for Dimitrov to win the match I’m not sure but I do think it can lead him to at least one set.
Tips
Back C.Suarez-Navarro vs S.Halep – Over 20.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Ladbrokes
Back it here:
WON – Back I.Marchenko to win a set for a 4/10 stake at 2.30 with Bwin
Back him here:
Back G.Dimitrov to win a set for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
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