Our tennis expert Scott Ferguson casts his eye over Wednesday's US Open tennis contests, with a double tipped in the women's draw.
Pablo Cuevas v Kamil Majchrzak
Uruguayan veteran Pablo Cuevas received a gift on Monday, defeating a significantly out-of-shape Jack Sock, to claim only his second main draw hardcourt win of 2019. Cuevas is the archetypal baseline claycourt grinder and avoids leaving the red dirt if at all possible. Choosing not to play any warmup events on this surface, Cuevas is at the mercy of any player who likes to be aggressive on hardcourt with short points rather than lengthy exchanges from deep in the court.
Kamil Majchrzak squeezed into the main draw as a lucky loser but gained his first-ever win at a major tournament defeating Chilean Nocolas Jarry in the opening round. Of his three wins to get this far, they have all been against clay specialists - exactly what he is up against today.
Neither of these players are world-beaters and on this surface there is little between them. Value play for Majchrzak at odds-against.
Best bet: 1.5pts Majchrzak to beat Cuevas at 7/5
Karolina Muchova v Su-Wei Hsieh
23 year-old Czech Karolina Muchova has made huge inroads on the tour of late rising exactly 100 positions in the rankings this calendar year. After making her maiden major quarter-final appearance at Wimbledon, she had a month off before reaching the quarters again at the Bronx Open last week, losing in a third set tiebreak to eventual victor, Magda Linette.
There's plenty more to come in Muchova's career which is in contrast to Su-Wei Hsieh whose career is slowly losing momentum. The star of Taiwanese tennis has a rotten record at Flushing Meadow, never getting beyond the second round in 13 visits, including qualifying events.
Petra Martic v Ana Bogdan
Croatian Petra Martic is in line for her best US Open result with a victory here, it's a record which doesn't match with the rest of her career and stands apart from her other major results having reached at least the fourth round at all of the others. In the opening round she was cruising against Tamara Zidansek before daydreaming and suddenly requiring a deciding set to seal the deal.
Martic holds a 3-0 career record over Romanian qualifier Ana Bogdan who navigated through the first round against a fellow qualifier. The stakes are higher here and expect Martic to prevail again.
Best bet: 2pts Muchova/Martic double at 7/5
Scott Ferguson's pre-tournament outright tips:
