Ricky Dimon
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The US Open – the tennis season’s fourth and final Grand Slam – is underway and we head into round 2 of the competition on Wednesday. Among those taking the court are Novak Djokovic, Frances Tiafoe and Aryna Sabalenka. Let’s take a look at the US Open best bets to be made on the Day 3 schedule, and also be sure to check out my US Open men’s singles best bets and US Open women’s singles predictions.
Gael Monfils +1.5 sets over Casper Ruud (-128)
Gael Monfils may not be in his prime at this point, but he is still going strong at 37 years old — at least relative to most other 37-year-olds. The Frenchman comes in at a solid ranking of #45 in the world and just upset Carlos Alcaraz 2 weeks ago at the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. He always seems to play well at the U.S. Open and that continued with a 4-set defeat of former world #8 Diego Schwartzman on Monday.
Casper Ruud needed 3 sets to beat Monfils earlier this season in Indian Wells (tying the head-to-head series at 1-1) and playing conditions there are more favorable for the Norwegian than they are in New York – which plays much faster. Monfils has a great chance to win this one outright against a relatively out-of-form opponent. As such, asking him to take only 2 sets really should not be too much.
Parlay: Jiri Lehecka ML over Mitchell Krueger and Lorenzo Musetti ML over Miomir Kecmanovic (-130)
Not much needs to be said about the Jiri Lehecka over Mitchell Krueger leg of this parlay. When healthy (as he is now), Lehecka is a top-15 talent on tour. The Czech is facing a 30-year-old journeyman who is just 10-20 lifetime on the main tour. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Musetti helped take Monday’s parlay to the bank with a mostly routine win over Reilly Opelka. Let’s go right back to the well with a player who is in the best form of his life right now. The Italian’s incredible summer also features a runner-up performance at Queen’s Club, a semifinal showing at Wimbledon and a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. Miomir Kecmanovic has not been in great form throughout the 2024 campaign and is coming off an energy-sapping first-round match against Yoshihito Nishioka.
Tomas Martin Etcheverry ML over Francisco Cerundolo (-110)
Tomas Martin Etcheverry leads the head-to-head series on the main tour 1-0 and it should be 2-0 by the end of this one. Except for a run to the French Open fourth round and a title in Umag, Francisco Cerundolo has struggled throughout this season. It’s also worth noting that both of those results were on clay, which is his best surface. Although both of these Argentines are all-court players, Etcheverry is arguably superior on the hard stuff. TME has climbed to #33 in the rankings (missed getting seeded at the U.S. Open by 1 spot) and is coming off a very impressive straight-set rout of Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (6-4, 6-2, 6-3). Look for Etcheverry to maintain the momentum.
