{"id":736275,"date":"2026-08-13T04:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/736275\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T04:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:00:21","slug":"atp-national-bank-open-tennis-tips-semi-finals-preview-and-best-bets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/736275\/","title":{"rendered":"ATP National Bank Open tennis tips: Semi-finals preview and best bets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rafael Jodar v Brandon Nakashima <\/p>\n

Jodar\u2019s rapid ascent towards the top of the sport continued apace in the last eight on Tuesday as Arthur Fils was defeated for the second week running.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard\u2019s all-round game proved too good for Fils, who was unable to control the match on his serve – Jodar broke four times and created 12 break points.<\/p>\n

That level of success on return does not bode well for Nakashima, whose game is built around his strong first serve.<\/p>\n

Of course, it doesn\u2019t translate that Jodar will have the same level of success – for a start, he\u2019s never met Nakashima on a match court before – but I would expect him to win this.<\/p>\n

The bookies do too – he\u2019s around the 4\/9 mark. Possible alternatives include a straight-sets win at a shade of odds-against.<\/p>\n

For something bigger, a first-set tie-break would not surprise me given Nakashima\u2019s strong serve, relatively weak return and that fact that both men will be seeing each other\u2019s delivery for the first time.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s around the 10\/3 mark but, frankly, this isn\u2019t a match where I\u2019m seeing any worthwhile bets.<\/p>\n

Learner Tien v Ben Shelton <\/p>\n

Admittedly, I called Shelton\u2019s match with Jakub Mensik<\/a> badly wrong in the last round but I can\u2019t have been the only one surprised by the way the American dismantled his opponent.<\/p>\n

He made mincemeat of the Czech\u2019s serve and dominated the contest. He\u2019s still yet to lose a set in Montreal as he defends the title won in Toronto 12 months ago and has to be favourite here.<\/p>\n

That said, Tien has won both of their previous meetings, the most recent of which came on the hardcourts of Indian Wells earlier this season.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s lost just the one set so far – to Gael Monfils in his opening match – and will have some backers at around the 13\/8 mark.<\/p>\n

The bet I like here is a long shot in the ace markets, of which there are a few about – it may not win but it certainly looks overpriced.<\/p>\n

Tien\u2019s serve has given Shelton some problems in those previous meetings and it\u2019s eye-catching that he out-aced the big server 15-8 in Indian Wells.<\/p>\n

Now, Shelton was a little under the weather that day, but when they met on grass in Mallorca in 2025, the ace count was 7-7 so it\u2019s clear to me that he isn\u2019t getting the best read on Tien\u2019s delivery.<\/p>\n

Given this, the 13\/2 about TIEN SERVING THE MOST ACES looks on the large side.<\/p>\n

The market looks to have been priced up largely based on ace performance so far in Montreal – you won\u2019t be surprised that Shelton holds a 17-5 on this metric.<\/p>\n

However, 17 aces in four matches isn\u2019t outstanding for a server of Shelton\u2019s stature. He managed only one in his victory over Mensik, while it was just three against Jenson Brooksby, a player with a strong return, who is comparable in many ways to Tien.<\/p>\n

Like I say, it may not win but on a day when I\u2019m struggling to find other bets that I\u2019m confident on, it looks worth a small play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rafael Jodar v Brandon Nakashima Jodar\u2019s rapid ascent towards the top of the sport continued apace in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-736275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}