Cibulkova undeserving underdog versus Vinci

She is ranked higher and leads their series on hard courts but that has not stopped bookmakers, incorrectly, installing Dominika Cibulkova as the underdog for her US Open women`s singles third round match against Roberto Vinci.

Even though Cibulkova has lost her last three matches versus Vinci she should not be odds against to get the better of the Italian at Flushing Meadows because only one of those clashes was played on a hard court. Overall, the Slovakian is up 2-1 on the surface and that is the key statistic.

Couple the hard court numbers and the world rankings - Cibulkova is ranked 14th, five places ahead of Vinci - and the Slovakian should be no bigger than evens to reach the US Open women`s singles fourth round at the Italian`s expense.

Sticking with the US Open women`s singles third round, there are several interesting match-ups that lend themselves to set-betting plays, many of which may be surprising.

Sixth seed Angelique Kerber may have only just scraped past Venus Williams but she should have a much easier time of it against Olga Govortsova. The German leads the Belarusian 4-1 overall and, more importantly, 3-0 on hard courts. Indeed, the 24-year-old from Bremen has not dropped a hard-court set to her US Open women`s singles third round opponent so back the favourite to qualify for the last 16 with a 2-0 victory.

Things may not be so straightforward for Agnieszka Radwanska and Serena Williams in their US Open women`s singles third round matches versus Jelena Jankovic and Ekaterina Makarova respectively, though. Both Radwanska and Williams are worth backing to progress by virtue of three-set successes.

Radwanska has dropped a set in both of her hard-court wins over Jankovic and the Polish second seed was in a little bit of trouble in the US Open women`s singles second round before fighting back to knock out Carla Suarez Navarro.

It was Makarova who eliminated Williams from this year`s Australian Open women`s singles at the last-16 stage and she did so in straight sets. The US Open women`s singles title favourite is fancied to avenge her shock Melbourne Park loss to the unseeded Russian but the enormous odds about the match going to three sets are impossible to pass up.

Jumping over to the US Open men`s singles third round, Tomas Berdych beat Sam Querrey comfortably on a Winston-Salem hard court last week so the Czech will be a popular pick to beat his American rival, albeit at match odds of around 30-100.

Perhaps the best exotic bet of the US Open men`s singles third round is Andy Murray to defeat Feliciano Lopez in straight sets to advance to the last 16 of a Grand Slam tournament for the 16th time in his last 17 appearances.

Murray, whose association with eight-time major singles champion Ivan Lendl has boosted his self belief to an all-time high, leads Lopez 6-0 irrespective of surface.

The London 2012 Olympic Games men`s singles gold medallist is up 4-0 versus the Spaniard on hard courts, including a 6-1 6-4 6-2 win in the 2011 US Open men`s singles third round. Murray has given away only one hard-court set to Lopez so back the Briton to triumph in straight sets.

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03/09/2012     © Frixo 2024