Action is underway in New York, with the year’s final Grand Slam taking place over the next two weeks. With dozens of matches per day in the opening days, making a bet on the US Open can be overwhelming.
We came up with what we believe is the best bet to make on day two of the US Open. Read on to find out our prediction, and why.
US Open Day Two Best Bets
Usually, big seeds playing in the early rounds doesn’t offer up the best betting. Matches are one-sided, and there’s little value to be had. However, we see an opening with Carlos Alcaraz vs Li Tu on day two, which we think can yield some excellent betting.
Here are our recommended tips:
- Total games over 25.5 @ 2.10 | +110
- First set over 10.5 games @ 9.00 | +800
Wondering why? Read on for our preview of the match, where we lay out our argument for this match being a bit trickier than the bookies anticipate.
Alcaraz vs Tu Preview
Carlos Alcaraz comes to New York in an interesting spot. On the one hand, he is the betting favorite at most bookmakers. This is because he has won the past two Grand Slams, rolling past Alexander Zverev in the French Open and Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon.
However, he has actually not looked that good recently, and hasn’t won a match in almost a month.
Alcaraz went deep at the Paris Olympics, and faced Djokovic in the gold medal match – a rematch of the Wimbledon final. However, the Serbian reversed the result, defeating Alcaraz in straight sets.
It was a tough loss for the Spaniard, who has since revealed the toll it took on him to fall short in his quest to win gold for his country.
The one time we’ve seen Alcaraz on the tennis court since then, he was shocking. Like, genuinely terrible. The world No 3 lost to Gael Monfils – a good player in his own right – but sprayed more than 60 unforced errors and lost the plot at one stage, smashing his racquet in a rare show of negative emotion.
Combine this with the fact that Alcaraz rolled an ankle in practice over the weekend, and has not won a match on hard courts since March, and there’s a legitimate case to be made for him starting slow on Tuesday.
Li Tu, on the other hand, comes into the first round of the US Open with momentum. Sure, he’s No 188 in the world, and is very unlikely to win this match, as he’s largely outclassed by Alcaraz in all departments.
However, having made his way through qualifying, he’s familiar with the conditions at the US Open, and is high on confidence with a three-match win streak under his belt.
Considering Alcaraz dropped a set to a qualifier at the French Open, and was pushed to 7-6 and 7-5 by one at Wimbledon, it is entirely feasible that Tu forces Alcaraz to a breaker or 7-5 in the first set here.
