US Open tennis, Wednesday's match preview: Free betting tips and odds
Andy Schooler landed another winner, at 2/1, on Tuesday. Now check out his best US Open bets for Wednesday's action.
Rain ruined much of Tuesday’s programme but under the Ashe roof Naomi Osaka landed our 2/1 outsider bet by taking down defending champion Angelique Kerber in convincing fashion.
On the outside courts, best bet Monica Niculescu was a set to the good when the rain arrived so hopefully she can close out in that one when play resumes today.
Many first-round matches are still to be played but I looked at those yesterday so today’s preview will focus on the second-round action.
Best bet
Denis Shapovalov to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at 2/1
This could easily have fallen into the ‘outsider’ category but I’m keen enough on the Canadian at this price to put him up as my best bet of the day.
The teenager, who looks to have a big future towards the top of the game, is full of confidence right now following his semi-final run in Montreal where he beat current world number one Rafael Nadal. He was forced to qualify for the main draw in New York but did so with honours and then easily negotiated a tricky first-round contest by beating Daniil Medvedev in straight sets.
Tsonga, on the other hand, is scratching around for form. He arrived in New York without a match win to his name during the summer hardcourt season having lost to Sam Querrey in Montreal and Ivo Karlovic in Cincinnati. They were defeats to decent opponents but he’s facing another one in Shapovalov now and I’m not reading too much into a facile first-round victory for the Frenchman.
Shapovalov looks the real deal and can prove it again with a win at a good price here.
Outside chance
Alize Cornet to beat Petra Kvitova at 2/1
Another underdog I like the look of today is Frenchwoman Cornet. She played pretty well in defeating Briton Heather Watson in round one and now faces a player still feeling her way back after her horrific hand injury sustained when fighting off an intruder in her own home just before Christmas.
Only on her favourite grasscourts of Birmingham has Kvitova won back-to-back matches during her comeback and you wonder how problematic recovery is for her at the moment.
The summer hardcourt season has never been her favourite time of year – the Czech has made just one quarter-final in nine visits to the US Open – and has certainly proved difficult in 2017 with heavy losses sustained at the hands of CiCi Bellis, Sloane Stephens and Shuai Zhang. She battled past Jelena Jankovic in round one but Cornet has the tools to trouble her and stands a good chance at 2/1.
Day three treble
Diego Schwartzman, Sloane Stephens and Caroline Wozniacki all to win at 1.96/1
I’ll put three odds-on shots together for this one to produce another 2/1 shot.
Janko Tipsarevic took down our Monday acca with a comeback from two sets down but that four-hour-12-minute match will have taken a lot out of the 33-year-old, who hasn’t played a match as long as that since May 2013. Opponent Schwartzman has made his name on clay but has had some good hardcourt wins this season, with Dominic Thiem and Sam Querrey among his victims.
Stephens has been one of the stories of the hardcourt season thus far with her comeback from injury gathering real pace in Toronto and Cincinnati; she made the last four at both events. On home soil, she can continue that against Dominika Cibulkova.
Finally, Caroline Wozniacki has a potentially tricky-looking second-round match at first glance against Ekaterina Makarova, but look deeper and you’ll find she holds a 7-0 win-loss record against the Russian. It’s clearly a match-up which doesn’t suit Makarova, who has won only two sets against the Dane.
I was tempted to put up Wozniacki (-4.5) on the game handicap given she’s covered that start in all seven of their previous meetings. She’s won 12 sets against Makarova by a three-game margin or more so that’s a way of bumping up the price if you are that way inclined.
Free bet offer
Sky Bet have a free-bet offer regarding Wednesday's Kyle Edmund v Steve Johnson match at the US Open.
Simpy place two £5 ReuqestABet selections on the match and you'll get a £5 free bet on the match.
You can get your own RequestABet pick priced up by tweeting @SkyBet using the hastag #RequestABet or choose from those already available on the firm's website.
Click here for full details of the offer.
Posted at 1115 BST on 30/08/17. All prices are with our betting partners Sky Bet.
