Tennis Betting Advice - May 2020
4/1 Riske in Florida...
Friday 22nd May 2020
In your Ones to Watch email today:
Four picks for today…
The bookies are being a little slow pricing up their tennis markets this morning. And it doesn’t help that Oddschecker isn’t displaying the UTR Pro Match Series and Exo-Tennis lists right now. Expect that to change over the weekend though.
Those two US events are our focus over the next couple of days. Then on Monday, a new exhibition tournament is due to start in Austria, too – starring World No.3. Dominic Thiem.
Plenty of tennis for us to look at then, and no fewer than four matches catch my eye today…
Exo-Tennis, men…
Katarina Jokic and Paige Hourigan were our top picks this week in Atlanta. The inaugural women’s event ended late last night with Jokic defeating Hourigan in a close final, with both women having match points.
The men return to the Exo-Tennis courts today. Earlier this month, Kevin King tore through the line-up with eight out of eight wins, all by the 2-0 score. One of those victories came against Chris Eubanks. Those two guys are here again this weekend…
King is 4/9 (1.44) to beat Eubanks. With the prices & King’s recent form in mind, I prefer Evens (2.00) for the 2-0 Set Betting score.
Local player Trent Bryde came 2nd at the Exo-Tennis in Atlanta, Georgia first time around. He’s pulled out of this second instalment, replaced by another young American from this neck of the woods…
Garrett Johns is an Atlanta native, and college player at Duke University in nearby state North Carolina. He recorded a 12-1 win-loss record in his rookie season of 2019/20.
The 19-year-old takes on the 30-year-old Donald Young in his debut match today. Young lost four of his eight matches at the first Exo-Tennis event recently, and like Taylor Townsend (who is coached by Young’s father), looked a ropey favourite in most of his matches. Johns is 5/2 (3.50) to spring a surprise.
UTR Pro Match Series, women…
In West Palm Beach, Florida it’s the women’s turn to take the private court being used for these mini events in the UTR Pro Match Series…
The day one prices are all pretty evenly matched and we have a good quality of player here, so we can expect some decent contests:
Alison Riske – ranked No.19
Amanda Anisimova – ranked No.28
Ajla Tomljanovic – ranked No.56
Danielle Collins – ranked No.51
Anisimova is on our Ones to Watch in 2020 list, and still just 18 years of age. A Florida resident, she’s first up against Collins today. Both women absolutely whack the ball, and both are prone to some extreme streakiness. With these matches played in shorter, first-to-four-games sets, this one looks unpredictable as either player could make a quick mess of it, or run away with a 4-1, 4-0 score.
This shorter format could also lead to a few matches going the ‘distance’ to a third set this weekend. A prime candidate for that today would be Alison Riske. The 29-year-old American has found her best form late in her career, and could’ve been an outside chance for us at Wimbledon this summer.
Riske has a serious habit of getting into long matches, be that coming from behind or throwing away leads…
For example, before the sport was halted, five of Riske’s last six matches on tour had gone to the full three sets.
The highest ranked player here, Riske is the favourite to beat both Tomljanovic and Anisimova today. Rather than take any of the odds-on prices, it could pay to take the 2-1 Set Betting option in both matches.
I’ve had to shop around various bookies for the prices here, but the best prices look to be with Betfred, where Riske to win 2-1 is 19/5 (4.80) v Tomljanovic, and 4/1 (5.00) v Anisimova.
With the more attractive side of the odds as our target, these are my four picks for today…
Exo-Tennis Series, USA – Men:
4pm:
7pm:
UTR Pro Match Series, USA – Women:
6pm:
7pm:
I’ll be back with another update from the States on Saturday morning.
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson