US Open Second Round Betting Guide: Thursday 9/1/22
The US Open is underway, and all eyes will be on Serena Williams in what's expected to be the last tournament of her career.
But we should see plenty of other storylines emerge over the next couple of weeks, and what better way to get in on the action than making some wagers on FanDuel Sportsbook.
The second round continues on Thursday. Which matches have the most betting value?
Borna Coric (+104) over Jenson Brooksby
Although Borna Coric is the higher-ranked and seeded player in this match, he finds himself as the slight underdog to young American Jenson Brooksby.
Brooksby has gone 14-8 on hard courts this season, and that included a run to the final in Atlanta this July with wins over fellow Americans Frances Tiafoe and John Isner, both top-30 players.
That being said, even with that strong tournament, he only went 5-4 overall on the surface this summer and entered the US Open on back-to-back losses.
Meanwhile, Coric missed much of 2021 due to injury and was struggling to find his form in this comeback this year.
Well, all he did this summer at Cincinnati was notch wins over Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut, Felix Auger Aliassime, Cameron Norrie, and Stefanos Tsitsipas on his way to winning his first Masters 1000 title. All five players were ranked in the top 20 and three were top 10.
Coric has been ranked as high as 12th in his career, so he could be quite dangerous if he's back at the peak of his powers.
It's possible that Coric isn't getting enough credit against Brooksby. According to Tennis Abstract's Elo ratings, the Croatian has roughly a 50-point advantage when factoring in the surface, and that amounts to a win probability of 59.2%.
Karolina Pliskova (+114) over Marie Bouzkova
Here's another situation where we find a seeded player who might not be getting enough love.
Karolina Pliskova is a top-25 player, yet is playing the role of underdog to 41st-ranked Marie Bouzkova.
A former world No. 1, Pliskova is one of the scariest servers on tour, and she's tied for second in ace rate (8.9%) behind only Naomi Osaka.
She enjoyed what was largely a successful hard-court season this summer, going 6-3 and making it to the semifinals at Toronto. That run included wins over top-25 players in Barbora Krejcikova, Amanda Anisimova, and Maria Sakkari, as well as one over a fast-rising Qinwen Zheng.
The US Open is also one of Pliskova's most successful Grand Slams, as she reached the final in 2016 and has since made the quarters three times, including just last year.
On the other hand, this is the highest ranking Bouzkova has ever had, and this is her first time making it past the first round at the US Open in five tries.
This summer, the 24-year-old won a WTA 250 event at Prague but failed to make much noise after that. She made it through qualifying at both Toronto and Cincinnati, but lost in the first round at Toronto and then had to withdraw in the second round due to injury at Cincinnati.
Tennis Abstract gives Pliskova a 55.5% chance of winning, which is nice value when compared to her 46.7% implied odds at +114
