Day six of the 2015 US Open sees the conclusion of the third round of action as the last 16 stage of the competition will become decided in both the WTA and ATP tournaments. All of the biggest and most competitive matches playing today come from the women’s draw and we’re looking at the top three games for our US Open picks.
All odds are provided by online sportsbook Betfair.com.
Barbora Strycova v Sabine Lisicki: 3.00 – 1.40
The players ranked 42nd and 24th in the world clash in today’s round three match at Flushing Meadows looking to make the fourth round of the final Grand Slam of the year in their third meeting of 2015. The two players have shared the spoils in their two previous clashes as the outsider today claimed a 7-5, 6-4 win in Doha before the German hit back in Toronto at the Rogers Cup three weeks ago with an even closer 7-6, 6-4 victory.
Of the two players it has been Lisicki who has had the easier route to this stage of the competition with 6-1, 6-4 and 6-4, 6-0 wins over Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Camila Giorgi, while Strycova eased past 15th seed Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-0 in the first round she dropped a set to Qiang Wang, who sits 112th in the WTA rankings to book her place against the 2013 Wimbledon finalist.
With the form that Lisicki has shown in Queens this week we feel that she is the deserved favourite to progress and we’re backing her to win this match relatively comfortably. Our money is on Lisicki -3.5 games @ 1.75 in the Betfair Sportsbook.
Victoria Azarenka v Angelique Kerber: 1.44 – 2.75
Two of the top 20 in the WTA rankings clash in the biggest match of the day as the world number 11 in Kerber looks to upset the odds and her winless record in four meetings with the former world number one, who now occupies 20th place in the rankings. The last clash between these two players came in Doha this year when the Belarusian secured a dominant 6-0, 6-3 triumph and with Azarenka the second favourite for the title can she make it 5-0 against the German today?
Kerber has been the better player across 2015 with four titles to her name, including winning at Stanford at the start of August, and she has cruised through both matches on her way to round three in New York too. Azarenka is yet to drop a set on her march to this point of the tournament too as she aims to reach a third US Open final in four years, but we feel that the German 11th seed for this concluding Grand Slam of the year is in the better form and offers far better value in this match. As such, we’re backing Kerber +3.5 games at odds of 1.91 with Betfair.
Sara Errani v Samantha Stosur: 3.40 – 1.33
This pairing of Italian and Australian players meet for the eighth time in their careers this afternoon at the US Open looking to secure passage into the last 16 stage and the second week of action at Flushing Meadows. It is Stosur, the world number 22, who looks to be getting better and better as she goes through the competition and with her winning five of the past seven meetings we can see why she is the big favourite to progress today.
The Australian defeated Timea Babos 6-3, 6-4 in round one before she crushed Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 6-1 to book her place against the world number 16 today. Errani dropped just a single game against Mayo Hibi in the first round before failing to start round two as she lost the first set 6-0 to Jelena Ostapenko, ranked 114th in the WTA rankings, but she recovered well enough to take the second and third sets 6-4, 6-3 to move onwards.
Stosur will take confidence from this despite the fact that these two players have not met since 2012 and the Italian won both of the last two meetings between them. Both of those clashes saw the matches go the distance and this is a clash that, despite the odds, could go either way. We’re backing at least 22 games (+21.5) in this match as both players push each other all the way at odds of 1.95 with Betfair.com.