Scott Ferguson has a look at the opening day action from the US Open, with three best bets picked out.
Recommended bets
1.5pts Ons Jabeur to beat Caroline Garcia at 5/4
1.5pts Jennifer Brady to beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 2-0 at 11/10
Caroline Garcia v Ons Jabeur
We start the day out on court 10 for a clash which might look unremarkable on paper, but has a history dating back a decade.
The 27th seed, Caroline Garcia, has been a regular traveller to the third round here - three years in a row, but her recent form has been a long way from that. She has lost six of her past eight matches, and went down in straight sets in the first round in both Toronto and Cincinnati, her only events since switching surfaces.
Her second serve was ripped apart by Jelena Ostapenko and Igo Swiatek in those losses, and the overall performance described as flat and lifeless. Player form can sway at a moment's notice but in previous years she has had a minimum of five hardcourt matches leading into New York.
Her opponent is an old foe, Tunisian Ons Jabeur. While they haven't met in senior ranks, they do have a history from juniors at the start of the decade.
Jabeur leads 4-0 on head-to-heads from junior Slams, spanning all surfaces, and conceding just one set. Let's not kid ourselves that form from that long ago is worth anywhere near as much as the last 18 months, but when a player seemingly owns another, it's worth noting.
More recently Jabeur reached the semi-finals at Eastbourne on grass, but rolled an ankle along the way. At Wimbledon, she struggled to move and swiftly lost to Petra Kvitova in the opening round.
After four weeks off, she hit the hardcourt circuit and has gone 3-3 in the past month. Her main draw record at Flushing Meadows isn't that bad - all early exits, but the three players she has lost to were all ranked in the top 25.
It's not a match to get overly excited about with neither player being in great form, but at the odds, I'm quite happy to support the Tunisian.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich v Jennifer Brady
The Belarusian number three is on a bad run since late in the clay season, winning just two of her past dozen matches. Aliaksandra Sasnovich has hovered in the thirties for most of the past year but recent form will hurt that very soon.
When confidence disappears it's very hard to get back on the winning bandwagon, and several of those losses have been after claiming the first set - a sure sign she doesn't know where her next victory is coming from.
Jennifer Brady is a fairly typical American, with an emphasis on hardcourt events in her schedule and a game centred around a big serve and heavy forehand. At 23-11 for the calendar year on hard, she qualified at both Toronto and Cincinnati, reaching the second round on both occasions for a 6-2 record in August.
This pair haven't met before but on home soil, the advantage has to go to Brady by a significant margin. I don't fancy taking 4/9 for the win, but a straight sets triumph appears more likely than not, and thus, 11/10 to win 2-0 appeals.
Adrian Mannarino v Daniel Evans
A poor start to the season saw French left-hander Adrian Mannarino lose 12 of 16 matches from January to April, but winning his maiden ATP title in June and two matches at both Montreal and Cincinnati sees him back in decent form.
At those recent hardcourt events, he only fell to top 20 players and recently tweeted of finally being pain-free after two months, although it wasn't clear whether that related to a finger injury which saw him miss Queen's, or another ailment. Either way, there's reason to believe he is in for a solid showing here.
Brit Evans won through qualifying at Montreal then split with his coach of the past year, David Felgate. That didn't help matters a great deal, immediately losing in the opening rounds at Cincinnati and Winston-Salem in matches where he was favourite.
Evans is the atypical confidence player. When he picks up momentum from a run of wins, he rides that wave for some time. In the grass season he went 14-3, winning two minor titles, but since then on hardcourt, he has only notched five wins from 10 matches, yet in only one of those losses - against Rafael Nadal - was he not favoured to win.
This pair sit side-by-side in ranking, 57 and 58, with the Frenchman ever so slightly in front, but Evans is marked favourite. Recent form puts this match as at least a coin flip, if not leaning to Mannarino so a small bet at the value is in order.
