ATP & WTA tournament previews

Tennis previews and best bets for the ATP tournaments in Dubai and Acapulco and the WTA events in Doha and Acapulco.

When to watch

Amazon Prime, Monday - ATP Dubai (from 10am), WTA Doha (from 11am), ATP & WTA Acapulco (from 10pm)

Best bets

Andrey Rublev to win ATP Dubai
1pt each-way 16-1 bet365
Back this tip with bet365

Pablo Cuevas to win ATP Santiago
1pt 11-1 Coral, Ladbrokes
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Alexander Zverev to win ATP Acapulco
1pt 6-1 Betfair, Paddy Power
Back this tip with Paddy Power

Anastasia Potapova to win WTA Acapulco
1pt 12-1 Betfred, Coral, Ladbrokes
Back this tip with Coral

Tournament previews

The ATP big guns are out this week with Novak Djokovic topping the bill in Dubai and Rafael Nadal the headline act in Acapulco and both are likely to take plenty of stopping.

Djokovic showed he was still the man to beat on hard courts when denying Dominic Thiem in the Australian Open final last month and he is likely to be difficult to stop in his quest for a fifth Dubai Duty Free Championship crown.

Nadal did not look at his imperious best down under but then he seldom does, having won the Melbourne Park singles only once.

The Spaniard is likely to be more of a force in the Mexican Open, but Nick Kyrgios returns to defend his title in Acapulco while second seed Alexander Zverev is getting better all the time.

If Nadal is still not at his brilliant best, his toughest tests could come against Alex de Minaur in round two and third seed Stan Wawrinka in the last eight. The Swiss has already played some fine matches this year and his presence should be respected.

Kyrgios may find retaining the title tough while a busy schedule could count against Felix Auger-Aliassime, who went all the way to the final in Marseille last week. With that in mind, an interest on Zverev could be prudent.

Djokovic’s toughest rivals could be in the bottom half of the Dubai draw. Marseille finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, seeded second in the Middle East, can be overlooked this week but Roberto Bautista Agut and Andrey Rublev could both be troublesome.

Bautista Agut won this event two years ago, so it may be Rublev’s turn to worry Djokovic most. Punters could only be hopeful about the Russian being good enough to upset the Serb, however.

The clay-court Golden Swing moves on to Santiago this week for the Chile Open, and with Christian Garin having been busy in Rio last week, it could pay to have an interest on Pablo Cuevas in a winnable quarter.

Sloane Stephens tops the bill in the women’s event in Acapulco and Yafan Wang defends her title there, but talented Anastasia Potapova may have chances to shine.

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