Daily Tennis Tips – Wednesday 1st March
CARLOS ALCARAZ V MACKENZIE McDONALD
World No.2 Carlos Alcaraz returns to hard-court action at the Alcapulco Open, after unleashing his customary dominance on clay since returning from injury. The 19-year-old phenom won the US Open but missed the Australian Open.
Alcaraz added a seventh ATP title by taking out the Argentina Open two weeks ago, beating Cameron Norrie in the final. He followed that up by reaching the final of the Rio Open with Norrie turning the tables, though he reportedly suffered an injury relapse during the latter tournament.
First-round opponent Mackenzie McDonald is coming off a solid semi-final run at the Delray Beach Open a fortnight back. He beat Taro Daniel, Yoshihito Nishioka and Michael Mmoh before going down to top seed Taylor Fritz.
The world No.62 reached the third round of the Australian Open after dumping an underdone Rafael Nadal out, eventually losing to Nishioka.
Alcaraz already has two comprehensive victories over McDonald to his credit – both in the past 12 months. He won 6-3 6-3 at Indian Wells and 6-3 6-2 at the Cincinnati Masters.
Alcaraz may not quite be back at the top of his game – and his fitness is a concern – but the freakish talent has enough tennis under his belt again to despatch McDonald comfortably once more.
Tip: Back Alcaraz to Win 2-0 @ $2.10
ALEX DE MINAUR V RODRIGO PACHECO MENDEZ
Eighth seed Alex de Minaur starts his campaign in Alcapulco against local 17-year-old wildcard Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez.
De Minaur, ranked 22nd, has had a reasonable start to 2023. He exited the Australian Open in the fourth round at the hands of Novak Djokovic after some solid win and lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the Rotterdam quarters after eliminating Andrey Rublev and Maxime Cressy.
Last week he went down to Benjamin Bonzi in the Open 13 quarters.
Pacheco Mendez turned pro last year and has a very modest ATP ranking of No.1244. He made his ATP debut at the Los Cabos Open, retiring while trailing Aussie Rinky Hijikita 6-3 4-0. The tyro has been plugging away on the ITF and Challenger circuits since with limited success.
The Mexican crowd will get right in behind the youngster, but he’s still a very raw prospect and the tenacious de Minaur is not the type to offer any latitude. De Minaur is on a quarter-final collision course with Casper Ruud and will look to wrap this one up quickly.
Tip: Back Under 17.5 Total Games @ $1.91
ALEXANDER ZVEREV V CHRISTOPHER O’CONNELL
Experienced Aussie Christopher O’Connell is producing some of the best form of his career, earning a Round of 16 showdown with world No.16 Alexander Zverev at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
O’Connell rolled Roberto Bautista Agut at the Qatar Open last week and was desperately unlucky not to upset Daniil Medvedev in the quarters, going down 2-6 6-4 7-5.
The 28-year-old, ranked 92nd (14 off his career-best), was impressive in qualifying for this tournament – including a victory over world No.73 Quentin Halys – before subduing Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5 6-4 in the first round.
Zverev is 4-6 in 2023 after returning to the tour from a lengthy injury layoff. He lost to Michael Mmoh in the second round of the Australian Open, Tallon Griekspoor in the second round of the Rotterdam Open and the mercurial Andy Murray first up at the Qatar Open.
But the German gun produced perhaps his best performance of the year to beat in-form Jiri Lehecka in the first round in Dubai, coming from a set down to win 4-6 6-3 6-4.
There’s no question Zverev is the more talented player with more weapons in his game. But the dogged, consistent O’Connell is full of confidence and has nothing to lose – he’ll make Zverev graft for every point and is a tempting $3.75 underdog.
Tip: Back O’Connell to Win a Set @ $2.05
THANASI KOKKINAKIS V BORNA CORIC
Thanasi Kokkinakis has an opportunity to cement a spot back in the top 100, but world No.20 Borna Coric represents a big-name obstacle in the Dubai Tennis Championships Round of 16.
The pair have met twice previously, both during 2022. Coric came away with straight-sets wins at the Japan Open and in the Davis Cup.
Kokkinakis, ranked 101st, made the semis in his Adelaide International 2 title defence before losing a second-round epic to Andy Murray at Australian Open after blitzing Fabio Fognini. He won a Challenger tournament in Bahrain with wins over the likes of Alexei Popyrin and Jan-Lennard Struff.
The 26-year-old South Australian kept the momentum going with a 6-4 7-6 victory against Quentin Halys in the first round in Dubai.
Coric has had limited tennis this year, beaten in the opening round of the Australian Open by Jiri Lehecka and losing his second match at the Open Sud de France to Maxime Cressy. After pulling out of the Rotterdam Open, he advanced in Dubai by walkover with Dan Evans retiring four games in.
Big-serving Kokkinakis is the slight outsider here but with a six-match winning streak behind him and Coric a bit short on meaningful time on the court, he looks a great chance of advancing to a likely quarter-final date with Daniil Medvedev.
Tip: Back Kokkinakis to Win @ $2.00
The post Daily Tennis Tips – Wednesday 1st March appeared first on Ladbrokes Blog.
from Ladbrokes Blog https://www.ladbrokes.com.au/blog/2023/03/01/daily-tennis-tips-wednesday-1st-march/
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