Previews, predictions & free tips for this week's ATP & WTA tournaments
Top seed David Goffin ready to frank rank in his homeland's biggest tournament
Tennis previews, predictions, tips and best bets for this week's ATP & WTA tournaments starting on Monday.
When to bet
ATP European Open starts 10am, ATP Cologne Championship starts 9am & WTA Ostrava Open starts 9am Monday, live on Amazon Prime
Best bets
David Goffin to win ATP European Open
2pts 11-2 Coral, Ladbrokes
Felix Auger-Aliassime to win ATP Cologne Championship
1pt 17-2 bet365
Victoria Azarenka to win WTA Ostrava Open
1pt 5-1 general
Tournament previews
ATP European Open
David Goffin is the top seed in the ATP European Open in Antwerp and the Belgian has strong claims on the indoor Greenset hard courts in his homeland.
The second, third and fourth seeds are Pablo Carreno Busta, Karen Khachanov and Grigor Dimitrov. But while all are decent performers in their own right, nobody in the field has better credentials for landing the title than Goffin, who has the requisite mix of talent and experience.
Milos Raonic, Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur, seeded fifth, seventh and eighth respectively, could all be troublesome and cause problems for Goffin on their day.
However, De Minaur, while a hugely talented performer, may still lack the necessary experience to deny Goffin on an indoor court, Raonic often finds one to beat him and may be better playing outdoors, while slow-burner Fritz still has much to learn all told and may find fellow American Reilly Opelka a handful in his opener.
Of the non-seeded players, mention can be made of former top-ten regular Kei Nishikori and promising French youngster Ugo Humbert, both of whom have shone in indoor competition in the past.
ATP Cologne Championship
Alexander Zverev, who won last week's indoor event in the Cologne bubble on Sunday, is again the top seed for week two in his German homeland.
Rome Masters runner-up and French Open semi-finalist Diego Schwartzman is seeded second on his switch from outdoor clay to indoor hardcourts, while Denis Shapovalov is the third seed after making the semis in St Petersburg last week.
Felix Auger-Aliassime, defeated 6-3 6-3 by Zverev in Sunday's title match, and Roberto Bautista Agut have stayed in Cologne. The young Canadian defeated the experienced Spaniard in the last four of last week's event and could be the value pick this week.
Britain's Andy Murray last night withdrew from the tournament due to tendonitis in a pelvic muscle.
WTA Ostrava Open
There's a stellar turnout for the women's Ostrava Open, another event put on specially during the Covid crisis.
Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova and Aryna Sabalenka are the three highest-ranked contenders in action in the Czech Republic, but fourth seed Victoria Azarenka could take the beating on the return to indoor hardcourts.
Azarenka, victorious in the Western & Southern Open in New York, then went on to reach the US Open final in the same Flushing Meadows bubble. The Belarusian played pretty well on the swift change to clay - arguably her weakest surface - and she may be ready to pick up the baton again back on this faster terrain.
Karolina Muchova, performing in her homeland, could be a handful for Azarenka in the second quarter of the draw, but the Czech would be no certainty to deny the winner of the Amanda Anisimova v Elise Mertens first-round thriller in round two should she win her opener as expected.
Punters should also be aware that top-class young American Cori Gauff is trying to qualify for a main-draw berth. She could be a big threat if coming through the preliminaries in decent fettle.
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Published on 18 October 2020inTennis tips
Last updated 22:01, 18 October 2020
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