It is quarter final time at the US Open with the top half of both draws playing on Tuesday in New York and at the end of the day we’ll know the semi-final line up in those sections.
Monday was another thrilling day of tennis and as has been customary with this tournament so far the big names continued to fall. This time it was Andy Murray who bit the dust when Kevin Anderson produced an inspired performance to dump him out.
There are four singles matches in all on Tuesday, all on Arthur Ashe as the tournament cranks up to the real deal now. In the men’s draw the day session has Marin Cilic facing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga while the night session sees Novak Djokovic taking on Feliciano Lopez.
In the women’s tournament the two surprise packages Kristina Mladenovic and Roberta Vinci meet in the day while the night session is all about the battle of the Williams sisters, a match every New Yorker will be interested in.
Marin Cilic has a good head to head record against Tsonga and I would have taken him to win that match on the back of that but I’m already on Cilic to win the quarter and he’ll do that if he wins this match so there is no need for me to go in again.
I can’t find a betting angle on the Djokovic vs Lopez clash especially as I’m still not convinced that Lopez has done anything but see off under par opponents in this tournament rather than produce anything special himself.
I fully expect Serena to beat Venus but I can’t be betting on matches between siblings because all sorts of emotions come into play in those kind of games so I’ll just watch that one as an interested spectator.
I do however like a bet in the other match. Kristina Mladenovic is still probably best known for her exploits in the doubles but she showed in the last round against Ekaterina Makarova that she’s equally adept without a partner.
Mladenovic takes on the Italian player Roberta Vinci on Tuesday. Vinci was the beneficiary of Eugenie Bouchard’s withdrawal meaning she had a bye in the last 16 but in her two matches prior to that she was taken the distance both times. Credit has to go to her for getting the job done but clearly she isn’t on top form.
Mladenovic had a real battle with Makarova and to her credit at a ridiculous time of night she got stronger and stronger. I think she’ll come through this one, possibly in straight sets, but if not with a big enough margin in one of the sets to cover a 2.5 game handicap.
Back K.Mladenovic (-2.5 games) to beat R.Vinci for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Ladbrokes
