After two winners from two bets in round one, Andy Schooler has three odds-against picks for the second round of the Cincinnati Open.
Tennis betting tips: Cincinnati Open
Recommended bets:
1.5pts Adrian Mannarino to beat Tomas Machac at 7/4 (betway)
1pt Hamad Medjedovic to beat Tallon Griekspoor at 6/5 (General)
0.5pt over 12.5 games in first set of Griekspoor v Medjedovic at 11/4 (bet365)
Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook
Tomas Machac v Adrian Mannarino (Sat)
It’s good when a match on the coupon stands out and that was the case in round one when Arthur Rinderknech simply looked too big. Thankfully, he duly delivered a 7/4 winner.
I feel the same way here and it’s another Frenchman fancied.
Mannarino arrives at this match having won 14 of his last 18 matches with two of the defeats coming against top-quality opponents – Andrey Rublev at Wimbledon and Ben Shelton, the eventual champion, last week in Toronto.
That loss has already been put firmly behind him with three straight-sets wins in Cincinnati since.
It’s quite a resurgence from Mannarino, who this time last year was stuck on a run of one win in 17 matches.
However, if ever there was going to be a time for the veteran to return to the sort of form that once lifted him as high as 17 in the world, then it’s the last couple of months.
Mannarino has always loved a faster court and he gets that on the grass and also during this summer hardcourt swing, which has generally sped up following the change to Har-Tru courts in Washington and Toronto.
It’s always been fast in Cincinnati and that could be bad news for Machac.
The Czech has plenty of talent but he’s struggled in recent months, winning just four of his last 12 matches. Last week, he suffered a first-round defeat in Toronto to Reilly Opelka and before that was beaten by world number 192 August Holmgren at Wimbledon.
Throw in the fact that Mannarino won the pair’s only previous meeting 6-1 6-2 in Indian Wells last season, holding serve throughout, and the Frenchman really does look a good bet at 7/4.
Tallon Griekspoor v Hamad Medjedovic (Sun)
Medjedovic returned to action fo the first time since Wimbledon on Friday and what a return it was.
The Serb produced a serving masterclass to dismantle Aleksandar Kovacevic, a finalist in Los Cabos only last month, in just 62 minutes.
The numbers were pretty frightening.
Medjedovic lost only three points on his serve and, unsurprisingly, didn’t face a single break point.
He delivered 15 aces in eight service games – 43% of the points he played on serve were won by an ace.
And he was far from shabby on return either, winning 67% of the points on his opponent’s second serve.
Medjedovic has always been one to fear in quick conditions – I remember putting him up at 40/1 on these pages earlier this year in Marseille when he reached the final – and he’ll now take huge confidence into this clash with seed Griekspoor.
The Dutchman has long been one to rely on his serve with return figures below average – he’s broken serve just 14% of the time on hardcourts over the past 52 weeks.
The chance of a first-set tie-break therefore looks more likely than odds of 11/4 suggest.
That’s been the outcome in seven of Griekspoor’s 18 hardcourt matches this season, while there has been a breaker in 12 of the last 15, making the 10/11 about over 0.5 in this match look tasty.
Griekspoor arrives in Cincinnati off the back of a disappointing defeat to Tomas Martin Etcheverry in Toronto a couple of weeks ago, a result which means he’s now lost three of his last four matches.
All things considered, I’m also happy to back the underdog for victory in this one.
Posted at 0845 BST on 09/08/25
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