Tennis Betting Advice - June 2020

The LiveScore Cup starts today…

Wednesday 3rd June 2020

In your Ones to Watch email today:

  • The new schedule is taking shape…
  • Marketa back on court…
  • Play starts 5pm…

Another close one went the wrong way for us last night. Mackenzie McDonald had a break point to go 4-3 ahead in the final set v Bjorn Fratangelo, but our man couldn’t take it. And it was Fratangelo that came out on the side of the 2-1 score-line this time, with the final result: 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Overall, since the start of May, to level stakes, our ‘lockdown’ list of daily match picks is running at a respectable enough 19% ROI.

I’ve got to say I’m enjoying the challenge of looking at these new, behind-closed-doors events. It’s new ground, and that means there’s an element of the unknown for everyone – and that includes the bookmakers.

The Alternative Summer of Tennis…

The new schedule continues to take shape, with exhibitions and events popping up all over the place. I spent a bit of time yesterday afternoon scooping up as many of the start dates and details as I could.

Here’s how the calendar is looking for the next two months. Our ‘alternative summer of tennis,’ if you will…

Generali Austrian Pro Series (Austria)
Started 25th May, continues through June – men & women

GST Tours Matchplay 120 Series (USA)
Started 25th May, running for six weeks – men & women

LiveScore Cup (Czech Republic)
3rd – 6th June – women

Ultimate Tennis Showdown (France)
Starts 13th June, running over five weekends – men

Schroders Battle of the Brits (London)
23rd – 28th June – men

Credit One Bank Invitational (USA)
23rd – 28th June – women

LTA British Tour (London)
Starts 3rd July, running throughout July – men & women

Progress Tour Women’s Championships (London)
14th – 18th July – women

Adria Tour
Starts 13th June, running across four weekends – men

  • In terms of the main ATP & WTA Tours, and the Grand Slams – with the US Open and French Open still being talked of for this year – we’ll have to wait and see what happens with the global coronavirus crisis. Things are on hold until 1st August, as of the last official announcement

There are nine new events named above, and that list is by no means exhaustive. There will be more to come.

Many of these will be available to watch live online or on TV, too…

The Ultimate Tennis Showdown is promising every match will be streamed live online. This week’s LiveScore Cup is on the Premier Sports channel. The Battle of the Brits will be on Amazon Prime Video. The GST Tours Matchplay 120 can be viewed live on their official website. And pretty much all of the events will have live streaming on various online channels, and on bookies’ websites such as Bet365 and Skybet.

Some big-name players are starting to get involved, too. Including: Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Sofia Kenin, Bianca Andreescu, Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, David Goffin, Grigor Dimitrov, Karolina Pliskova, Petra Kvitova.

LiveScore Cup starts today…

The Czech Republic successfully held a President’s Cup event last week, with Petra Kvitova lifting the trophy. Some top Czech players are in action in Prague this week, with the new LiveScore Cup starting today…

This mini-tournament is made up of six women, all ranked inside the Top 100 of the WTA rankings. There will be a group stage and then playoffs. The playing surface is clay.

Karolina Pliskova v Barbora Strycova is the first match on court (2.30pm). At No.3 in the world, Karolina is the highest-ranked player here – and she owns a commanding 4-1 career head-to-head Strycova. Karolina is 1/2 (1.50) and 4/9 (1.44) in the Match Winner market. If this match was on hard courts, I’d be all over that. But on clay, the threat of the tall, big-serving Pliskova is slightly neutralised.

The second match of the day at 5pm sees Karolina’s twin sister, Kristyna Pliskova, taking on Marketa Vondrousova

Kristyna is a solid Top 100 player – currently No.69 – but hasn’t had anywhere near the success of her high-flying, right-handed sister. Kristyna plays left-handed, and today’s match v Vondrousova is a battle of the lefties.

In their two previous meetings, which were both on hard courts, Vondrousova prevailed 2-0 each time. Clay is the 20-year-old’s best surface, with a superb career match win-loss record of 72-20. That’s an extremely impressive 78% win rate.

Currently ranked No.18, Marketa was catapulted into the bigtime this time last year. We were on the then 19-year-old as a 40/1 outsider, as she made it all the way to the final at the French Open 2019.

Twelve months later almost to the day, and who’d have thought we’d be talking about a newly created mini-tournament in the French Open slot, played behind closed doors with no fans. We take the situation as we find it, though, and while odds of 1/3 (1.33) for Vondrousova to win today are too short to warrant a match single for me, I do like the Evens (2.00) and 10/11 (1.91) available for a straight sets win, 2-0.

Kristyna played one match at the President’s Cup last week, and was beaten 2-0 there.

LiveScore Cup:

5pm:

  • Set Betting – Marketa Vondrousova to win 2-0 v Kristyna Pliskova is Evens (2.00) with 888 Sport, Unibet, William Hill, 10/11 (1.91) Bet365, Skybet, BetVictor

Latest odds here

I’ll be in touch with more on this week’s matches between now and the weekend.

Enjoy the tennis,

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Tom Wilson

Ones to Watch