The best tennis bets on August 14th

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The North American hardcourt swing continues this week in Toronto, where we are now in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup, Masters 1000. With one of the biggest regular season tournaments coming to an end, the matches have to be great, and I think both sub-dogs have a reasonable shot here. Let me explain.

Stefanos Tsitsipas (-556) vs. Reilly Opelka (+390)

The two talented players met almost exactly a year ago when the Cincinnati Masters (next week’s event) was held in a bubble in New York before the US Open. It felt very similar to this match as well, when Opelka came into the match in red against the hot offensive Tsitsipa, who had already conquered John Isner. Unfortunately. We couldn’t see the process when Opelka retired when he was injured and made the situation 6-5 in the first installment. He had managed to keep his feet below 100% quite easily and suppressed Tsitsipas with his service.

I think this line is a little unfair to Bigman. In addition to a match against Lloyd Harris that took almost everything to win, he looked like he was mastering on the field. Not only has he served well, but he has also struck his blow cleanly and cut a ton of energy. He won an extended rally against one of Roberto Bautista-Agut’s best grounders in the game and has painted lines with winners from both wings all week.

Clearly, Tsitsipas is another step in a bigger man’s race, and it’s unlikely he’ll be able to find a way through World No. 3 for two series. I think he can jump on Tsitsipas early before the Greek has time to adapt, and in the way he plays out of the country, one should even find a break. I would look into an alternative distribution of Opelka in the first installment if I was furious, but I think the American stealing series from here is the right call. Tsitsipas service games have just been scarce recently, which is worrying when every game is forced to be held.

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Edge: Opelka +1.5 sets (+133)

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Daniil Medvedev (-313) vs. John Isner (+242)

From one servo robot to another, John Isner has undeniably played tennis for everyone left in the draw. The skyscraper has expertly placed his service and cracks the winners left and right, and his powerful front and back hands land in the game more often than not. It’s been refreshing to see Isner, 36, able to move and execute his game plan after the last couple of years of injuries, and he looks just as dangerous on the field.

Join Daniil Medvedev, who has not played the best tennis in Toronto but is in the semi-finals as usual. He was on the verge of losing to Hubert Hurkacz and even struggled to get out of James Duckworth in his 16-round match. The Russian just hasn’t served everything so well, and has sometimes seemed to be mentally absent.

While Medvedev’s deep recovery position is causing problems for large servers like Isner, America’s big propeller and solid networking skills should allow him to serve and fly free points when he needs them, and his ability to take a drop shot this week should provide enough to keep Medvedev on his toes.

As he did in the Hurkacz match, Med will probably solve the problem here well and take the match, but I’m not sure if he can do it in straight sets. Wait for Isner to take a series like Opelka.

Edge: Isner +1.5 sets (-115)

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