Tuesday, September 07, 2021 – 07:00 PM EDT at Arthur Ashe Stadium
In our first night match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, we’ll see Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, one of the best players in the world, take on this year’s French Open champ, Barbora Krejcikova. All this 25-year-old from the Czech Republic has done this summer is win, and there’s little reason why it wouldn’t continue.
Krejcikova now stands at 43-12 on the season in her singles matches, and in doubles she’s continued to excel with a gold medal at the Olympics in Tokyo. Since falling to a talented player in Paula Badosa on the clay in April, she’s only been taken out a handful of times. She lost to the best clay player in the world in Iga Swiatek in Rome, won Strasbourg and Roland Garros, then lost just three times. She fell to Ash Barty twice — once on grass, and once on a hardcourt — and lost in Tokyo to perhaps the most in-form player in the world and the eventual gold medalist, Belinda Bencic.
That’s it. Krejcikova hasn’t really done much losing, and when she has lost it’s come against an absolute world-class player. A loss here to Aryna Sabalenka, the World No. 2, would fall into that category, but I’m not sure she will lose a match here in Queens with the way she’s been playing. Krejcikova is coming off a match in which she served up 10 aces, hardly being bothered on her serve.
Her Richard Gasquet-like ability to find angles and hit off her back foot make her a tough matchup for anyone on tour trying to win from the baseline, and that should be particularly true for Sabalenka. The World No. 2 can often hit through her opponents and use her power on this fast surface, but Krejcikova’s ability to absorb power and redirect it to her advantage should make her a very live underdog here.
I think she can come out and win this match against Sabalenka with consistent serving and without many errors coming from her side of the net. It’s also worth noting these two played a very close three-set match a year ago which Sabalenka won, but Krejcikova has grown so much from that point in time. I’d make her a very close underdog for our best bets.
Tennis Pick: Krejcikova +146 with Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)
Tuesday, September 07, 2021 - 08:15 PM EDT at Arthur Ashe Stadium
In our nightcap of the night session, we have two exciting youngsters matching up in Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime. While the Spaniard has been absolutely electrifying the crowds in New York, I have a hard time believing he has enough to get through Auger-Aliassime. What we’ve seen from Auger-Aliassime in his last two wins over high-quality opponents is exquisite serving. FAA has been pretty much unbreakable, using his big first serve to get out of many holes. His double-fault woes have seemed to dissipate, and his groundstrokes are bigger than ever.
Auger-Aliassime has always been a confidence-driven player. He has the talent to beat pretty much anyone on tour, but his mental game has trailed behind. Against a player several years younger than him, and brimming with momentum after wins over the world-class Roberto Bautista-Agut and the very in-form Frances Tiafoe, FAA should come into this one with a world of self-belief. He’s also going to have an edge in fitness. Alcaraz doesn’t have nearly as much best-of-five experience, and in his win over Peter Gojowcyk, he seemed to wane.
His lack of sharpness was evident, and he grew very tired as the match went into a fifth set. While he did win, it was the result of his opponent completely running out of gas. Auger-Aliassime has done battle with some great opponents in best-of-fives, and just made a deep run this year at Wimbledon. He should be ready for another extended match.
I don’t know if this will be quite so extended, though. While Alcaraz is a tremendous defender, I don’t know if he can catch up to the pace of these Auger-Aliassime groundstrokes. Even if he does, FAA’s supreme speed should allow him the ability to finish the point at the net. With fatigue building and a redlining Auger-Aliassime, I think the Canadian gets this done in fewer than five sets.
Tennis Pick: Auger-Aliassime -1.5 Sets (-107) with Heritage Sports
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