It didn’t take long for the seeds to tumble with Shelton, Arnaldi, Cerundolo, Humbert and Tabilo all ousted. We could find ourselves in a similar situation to the French Open with a wide open half of the draw and a series of unpredictable results.
Breaks of serve were few and far between in Zverev’s battle against Blockx. Three of the four sets played were tiebreakers with Zverev manging to break serve just twice in the match. He was dominant on his own serve and that is certain to continue against Royer who was unable to break the Zverev serve in their one and only prior meeting in Shanghai last year. Royer made light work of a wildcard in the 1st Round but I am more interested in his battle against Ethan Quinn in Mallorca last week. He dropped serve four times in two sets and was never in the contest. Cannot see him making any impact on return games.
Best Bet: Sets Zverev 3-0 ($1.45)
The withdrawal of Jack Draper due to a recurring arm injury meant a much easier task for Fritz in the 1st Round. Three quick sets and 14 aces later was an easy day at the office for the American and a repeat is on the cards here. Kypson was able to break the Mcdonald serve five times but there will be no repeat of that here. Fritz has been in fantastic form during the grass court swing with back-to-back finals and is serving with extreme confidence. Don’t know if he will commit enough effort in return games once he goes up a break in any set so will be taking him to win in straight sets rather than cover the handicap.
Best Bet: Sets Fritz 3-0 ($1.52)
Last year Dimitrov had Sinner on the ropes before being forced to retire hurt and despite playing very limited tennis in recent months, looks back at home on grass. He thundered down 23 aces in a straight sets win over Sweeny while Mensik struggled in his match with Toby Samuel. Mensik could only manage a 52% win rate on 2nd serve points and needed to find his best in a 5th and deciding set to go through. The pair have met twice before with Mensik winning both battle but there was nothing between them with the two clashes going to a deciding third set. Want to be on the Overs.
Best Bet: Over 39.5 games ($1.82)
We hadn’t seen Fils since he withdrew hurt from his opening match at the Rome Masters but you would not have known it as he was in devastating form against Collignon. He won 83% of 1st serve points and broke serve 6 times – figures which spell trouble for Berrettini. There are few better than the Italian at serving their way out of trouble and his match against Wawrinka was a real throwback. They contested four tiebreakers with Berrettini winning three of them. Fils will make more of an impression in return games than Wawrinka did but I don’t think it will be enough to avoid playing out 2-3 breakers. It makes the Over one of the best bets of the day.
Best Bet: Over 39.5 games ($1.83)
Fritz v Kypson: Sets Fritz 3-0 ($1.52)
Royer v Zverev: Sets Zverev 3-0 ($1.45)
Mensik v Dimirov: Over 39.5 games ($1.82)
Bergs v Faria: Faria +3.5 ($1.82)
Berrettini v Fils: Over 39.5 games ($1.83)
De Minaur v Mannarino: De Minaur -6.5 ($2.02)
Diallo v Sonego: Sonego WIN ($1.91)
Fearnley v Munar: Fearnley +3.5
Fery v Virtanen: Virtanen WIN ($1.52)
Halys v Giron: Giron WIN ($1.90)
Jacquet v Bublik: Over 38.5 games
Khachanov v Hanfmann: Khachanov -1.5 Sets
Svajda v Majchrzak: Under 39.5 games
