Tennis betting tips: Preview and best bets for the ATP Winston-Salem Open

Tennis betting tips: ATP Winston-Salem Open

0.5pt e.w. Miomir Kecmanovic at 25/1 (General)

0.5pt e.w. Luca van Assche at 35/1 (BetVictor)

0.5pt e.w. Sebsatian Baez at 22/1 (General)

0.5pt e.w. Quentin Halys at 25/1 (BetVictor)

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Winston-Salem Open

• Winston-Salem, USA (outdoor hard)

This week on the ATP Tour we’ve got a market with a 6/1 favourite, while the next player on the list is at 14/1.

To me, that says the bookies have no idea who’s winning on the medium-paced Laykold courts of Winston-Salem and the punters have a chance of landing a big-priced winner.

Daniil Medvedev is the man at the head of the market, one of only two top-30 players in the field, the other being Luciano Darderi.

However, I’m happy to swerve the Russian.

He will undoubtedly want more matches under his belt this week – the reason being his poor form which has seen him win just one of three so far since hitting the hardcourts of North America.

However, I also suspect that he won’t want the full five in the week before a Grand Slam – this tournament ends the day before the US Open starts.

If the former champion in New York wants to go deep there again (in what are usually gruelling conditions), playing three full weeks in a row doesn’t seem the best idea.

We’ve seen it plenty of times before in these pre-Slam weeks – a player finds an excuse to withdraw when they feel they’ve played enough. Move on to the Grand Slam venue and get a feel for the conditions there, rather than hang around and try to win what is essentially (for the top players, at least) a pretty meaningless title.

If you are prepared to discount the jolly – and at this point it’s worth highlighting the fact that only one top seed has every won this event since its creation in 2011 - then this really is wide open and I feel there’s every chance of a big-priced winner.

Given the open nature of the event, I’m going to take a bit of a different approach to normal this week and take one pick in each quarter and back four players to small stakes, each at a big price.

Quarter one

This is the section of Medvedev, with claycourt specialist Mariano Navone the next highest seed.

Former champion Adrian Mannarino is also here, although his form suggests a repeat of his 2022 success Is unlikely.

Maybe – and it is just a maybe – MIOMIR KECMANOVIC can capitalise.

The Serb made the quarter-finals here 12 months ago, while it’s also worth pointing out that he’s reached a final in one of these pre-Slam weeks before. That’s always something I like to factor in during weeks like these.

While wins haven’t been easy to come by of late, narrow three-set losses to Flavio Cobolli in Cincinnati and Arhtur Rinderknech in Montreal hint that a turn of fortune may not be that far away.

A poor record against Medvedev is a little off-putting though so this is definitely one play where you’ll want to keep the stakes low.

Quarter two

Briton Arthur Fery heads up Q2, largely due to his sensational semi-final run at Wimbledon.

However, he’s yet to prove himself on the regular ATP Tour and I can’t really see him being around come next weekend.

We’ve also got Stefanos Tsitsipas here, plus a host of players struggling for form. They include Jenson Brooksby (seven wins in his last 22 matches), Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (lost four in a row), Aleksandar Kovacevic (on a run of 1-7) and Dino Prizmic (seven defeats in 10).

Tomas Machac is a talent but can’t stay fit – this will be only his second match since May so he’s also easily overlooked.

There aren’t too many players left who I haven’t mentioned but one of them stands out from a form perspective and that’s LUCA VAN ASSCHE.

The 11th seed has won 16 of his last 20 matches at all levels and, at time of writing, he’s due to contest the final of the Quebec City Challenger before this event begins.

That obviously means a quick turnaround which will put off some but Van Assche is clearly buzzing right now and I’m sure a player of his relatively low ranking (54) will be keen on continuing in the same vein, rather than turning to focus on what lies ahead (ie the US Open).

The Frenchman showed recently that he’s more than capable at tour level, winning on the clay of Estoril only last month when he defeated both Andrey Rublev and Alexander Blockx en route to the title.

At 35/1 in a soft-looking section, Van Assche looks worth a punt.

Quarter three

Ignacio Buse heads up this section but he’s a claycourter who has struggled of late, winning only five of his 13 matches since claiming his maiden ATP title in Hamburg in May.

Juan Manuel Cerundolo is the eighth seed and he’s another who would prefer the red dirt under his feet so I’m keen to look elsewhere.

I considered Roman Safiullin, who enjoyed a fine run at Wimbledon not so long ago, but I’ve come down on the side of former champion SEBASTIAN BAEZ.

The Argentine is more associated with clay success but he showed he’s capable on hardcourts, as long as they aren’t too fast, by winning here in 2023.

That was the week before the US Open and he was at it again in these pre-Slam weeks earlier this year when reaching the final in Auckland, days before the Australian Open.

Baez will be coming up from Cancun, Mexico, where he’s been playing in a Challenger event. He’s due to play the final there on Sunday having reaching it without dropping a set.

Quarter four

The bottom quarter is that of Darderi, who I did consider at 25/1.

That’s arguably too big given the Italian recently made the quarter-finals of the Montreal Masters.

He did so without beating anyone in the top 50, although there aren’t too many such players here this week either.

As much as I could back that price, I’m going to side with another player at the same odds and that’s QUENTIN HALYS.

The 12th seed has won eight of his last nine matches coming in here, capturing his maiden ATP title in Kitzbuhel before qualifying in Cincinnati and then beating Vit Kopriva. He only exited by losing a final-set tie-break to Alex de Minaur.

The French star has only lost serve seven times across those nine contests and while these won’t be the quickest conditions he’s faced, Halys should still be able to get the ball through the court with his big first serve.

This is a player in fine form, whose confidence must be pretty high right now, and I’d expect him to be giving it a real go this week, which won’t be the case with everyone in this field.

Posted 08:50 BST on 23/08/2026

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