8/27 US Open
Tsitsipas/Shelton ML (-130)
Backing a two leg tennis parlay in the first round of the US Open. Both matches start at 11:00 AM EST.
Starting with Ben Shelton who is back in New York to try and make another run in this tournament after losing in the quarter finals to Djokovic last year. The odds for this match are heavily skewed in Sheltons direction and for good reason. He is 15 years younger than Bautista and owns the one head to head matchup between the two. These two faced at this year's Australian Open back in January and Shelton won 6-2, 7-6 and 7-5.
A winner of just 1 of his L6 matches I am not expecting much out the Spaniard tomorrow morning. Unfortunately I think his US Open dreams will be crushed on the first day. At just 15-16 on the year and playing an opponent with an average ranking of 90.75 I don't think he stands a chance against a young, hard serving player like Shelton who also happens to rank 13th on the ATP.
Shelton should get this thing done in three sets and move onto the next round with relative ease.
Onto the second leg of this parlay, the more challenging leg in my opinion. A few years ago I wouldn't have been saying this but I am not sure what has happened to Stefano's Tsitsipas. It seems his game has taken a step back since his loss to Novak Djokoivc in the finals of the 2023 French Open. Regardless of how he has looked as of lately I do believe he should wins this match against Kokkinakis and win it with relative ease.
Putting is nicely Kokkinakis hasn't had a great season, ranking just 86th on the ATP and holding a record of 10-13, 2024 hasn't been his year. He has also withdrawn from 3 of his L4 events, so health hasn't been on his side.
Tsitsipas owns the one win between the two but I am not going to use that against him because the match came 3 years ago in 2021, a ton has changed since then. What I am going to use though is the talent from the Greek man. I know he hasn't been lighting the world on fire but he should have enough talent to at least make it out of the first round in this tournament. At this number there is no way I can fade him even if he isn't playing his best tennis. I will take this gamble all day.
I am predicting Tsitsipas in three sets and to move onto the second round in the big apple. GL.
