The Special Ks will face off on Day 1 of the US Open, but there’s value in another Australian featuring in the women’s draw. See our outright US Open betting previews here.
Best Bet
Yibing Wu could not do much more than what he has been doing this year, beginning 2022 ranked outside the top 1000 and producing a 30-4 record on the challenger circuit to move him inside the top 200.
The Chinese is 19-1 in the latest hard court swing, and faces the 31st seed Nikoloz Basilashvili. It continues to stagger me how the Georgian can maintain a ranking inside the top 40 year after year, with a 12-25 record in 2022 including a 3-12 record on hard courts – all three wins came in Doha in February. Losing his last six hard court matches, the Chinese qualifier shouldn’t have any trouble continuing his run.
Next Best
The veteran Chinese has put together a strong backend of the year with a 15-8 record since June reaching the Final in Birmingham, and in the lead-up made Quarter Final runs at Cincinnati and Cleveland.
Shuai Zhang faces the 30th seed Jil Teichmann, with the Chinese winning their only encounter in 2018. The Swiss made a strong run in 2022, but the damage was done on clay with an 11-4 record – on hard court this year Teichman is 10-11 winning just 3 of her last 9 on the surface. The Zhang form line puts her in the box seat for this first-round clash.
Coming off a Semi Final run at Winston-Salem, Botic Van De Zandschulp enters the US Open in good touch when he faces qualifier Tomas Machac.
Machac enters the US Open winning his last eight matches, but none of those opponents were inside the top 130 in the world. Van De Zandschulp on the other hand was a Quarter Finalist at Flushing Meadows last year, and is coming off a Round of 16 appearance at Wimbledon a few months back.
Don’t be surprised if the Dutchman drops a set, but still shouldn’t have any issues covering the -3.5 game handicap.
It’s been a slow burn for Dominic Thiem this year returning from a 9-month injury, but the +6 game handicap appears long when he comes up against Pablo Carreno Busta.
The Austrian holds an 8-1 career record against the Spaniard, and although Carreno Busta enters the US Open in red hot form winning the Montreal Masters, he does historically feature in long matches across his Grand Slam career.
The Spaniard should be too good, but it won’t be regulation against someone of Thiem’s ilk.
Alja Tomljanovic has had a really impressive back half of 2022, with a 16-6 record including Quarter Final runs at Wimbledon and Cincinnati in the lead-up. If they counted points for her Wimbledon performance, the Australian would be inside the top 30.
She faces Karolina Muchova, whose body as really let her down for a long time now since reaching the Australian Open Semi Final last year. The Czech has a 6-6 record this year, and only managed two matches in the hard court lead-up. Muchova still appears far from her best while the Australian is playing some of the best tennis of her career – expect Tomljanovic to cover the -2 game handicap.
Value Bet
A great hard court lead up by Yoshihito Nishioka where he made the Final at Washington, including wins over Andrey Rublev, Daniel Evans, Karen Khachanov and Alex De Minaur.
The Japanese faces talented Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who has struggled on hard courts this year with a 4-10 record. The Spaniard has won just one of his last seven on the surface, which was at Indian Wells back in March. Nishioka on the other hand has played plenty of hard court tennis this year with a 32-14 record on the surface, and should be too strong as an underdog in this.
Daily H2H Multi
Yibing Wu / Van De Zandschulp / Bautista Agut / Kudermetova / Tomljanovic = $4.91
