He’s one of the favourites for the US Open and Carlos Alcaraz appeared back to his best in the second-round. He’s our best bet on Day 6 at Flushing Meadows.
Best Bet
After a slow first-round match, Carlos Alcaraz was on song in the second-round and now faces American Jenson Brooksby.
Brooksby is coming off a straight sets win against Borna Coric where his unorthodox style of play clearly troubled the Croatian who has played little tennis this year, but Alcaraz has the weapons and consistency to counter this.
When facing opponents ranked between 21 to 50 this year, Alcaraz is 6-0, dropping just two sets in those matches. Conversely, Brooksby is 1-3 against top 10 players this year. Alcaraz should win in 3 or 4 sets, covering the -5.5 game handicap.
Next Best
After watching Alize Cornet battle through the second round appearing very ill while limping around with both quads taped up, the giant killer’s run looks set to end here.
Danielle Collins is a strong performer at majors and is yet to drop a set this US Open, including a straight sets win over Naomi Osaka in the first round.
The American faced Cornet in the Australian Open Quarter Final where she had little trouble winning in straight sets, and with the home crowd behind her she should have no issues covering the game handicap in this.
Kvitova enters this off a second-round rest after her opponent withdrew before the match – this will do wonders for someone of her profile. The Czech generally enters majors in good form, but it’s normally around this stage where it starts to come unstuck, but with only the one match under her belt she’s in prime position to defeat Garbine Muguruza.
The Spaniard has really had her struggles this year with an 11-14 record, and although her first-round win over Clara Tauson was encouraging, the Dane entered the US Open underdone and out of sorts.
Kvitova holds a 5-1 career stranglehold over Muguruza, winning the last five matches with the last four of those on hard court. Of those last four, the Spaniard has only managed to win one set – all signs are pointing towards a straight sets win for the Czech.
This is a really interesting third-round clash between Dan Evans and Marin Cilic. The Brit enters the US Open in brilliant form – a Quarter Final run at Washington, followed by reaching the Semi Finals at Cincinnati.
He’s won the only meeting he’s had with Cilic back at the 2017 Australian Open, and although the Croatian hasn’t dropped a set yet his lead-up form wasn’t all that convincing. Cilic is 5-8 against top 30 opposition in 2022, and on hard courts that record becomes 2-5.
Expect the Brit to play his shots and force Cilic to play the extra ball, with Evans capable of causing an upset.
Value Bet
I know Lorenzo Musetti is not a natural hard-courter, but he’s still far too talented to be at these odds when he faces Ilya Ivashka.
The 30th-ranked Italian defeated David Goffin in the first-round which is a solid scalp, and although Ivashka enters this off the back of a 4-set victory over Hubert Hurkacz, we’ve seen this can happen to the Pole at majors.
Musetti beat the Belarussian on clay in May and it simply won’t be as easy as the odds suggest for Ivashka in this. Keen to take the $2.61 for the Italian.
Daily H2H Multi
Sinner / Norrie / Alcaraz / Kvitova / Collins = $5.50
