Italian International tennis: Wednesday tips, odds and betting preview

TV: Amazon Prime (ATP) & BT Sport 3 (WTA), from 10am Wednesday

There could be exciting times ahead for Sloane Stephens after hooking up with a new coach, Sven Groeneveld, just before last week’s Madrid Open.

Her first tournament with the Dutchman on the sidelines saw her reach the semi-finals in the Spanish capital and considering she took many observers by surprise when making the French Open final last year, we could be hearing a lot about the Floridian in the coming months.

Groeneveld enjoyed a success­ful coaching relationship with Maria Sharapova, guiding the Russian to the Roland Garros crown in 2014.

It took a red-hot Kiki Bertens, who was on a title-winning charge, to stop Stephens in Madrid last week and it will be a slight eye-opener if Johanna Konta denies the Floridian in their Italian International second-round clash.

The Briton is so competent on faster courts, whether hard or grass, that clay would have to go down as her weakest surface.

That’s probably true of 2017 US Open champion Stephens too, but judging by her run to the French Open title match in Paris last year it looks as if she is pretty adept even on her weakest terrain.

Konta made light work of Alison Riske, defeating Stephens’ compatriot 6-4 6-1 in her Foro Italico opener, but the seventh seed is likely to be considerably tougher to stop in the last 32.

In the men’s action in Rome, big guns Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas are due to embark on their title tilts. Madrid finalists Djokovic and Tsitsipas, who starts out against young Italian Jannik Sinner, are unlikely to come croppers.

But Thiem may have to be on top of his game to come through a potentially tough test against Fernando Verdasco, who looked to be on top of his game in his home city last week.

Recommendation
S Stephens
1pt 8-13 Betway, Coral, Ladbrokes

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport