U.S. Open Day Two

Anna Chakvetadze was the main casualty on the first day of the US Open, crashing out in three sets to the unseeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova. Let's hope that these picks fare better than 'The Chak Attack'...

Firstly, we'll start off with a 3-0 lay of Ivo Karlovic against Jan Minar. Even though Karlovic is enjoying a career-high ranking of 18, he remains as inconsistent as ever in Grand Slams. He has never progressed past the third round of the US Open, and his monstrous serve means that he features in plenty of tie-breaks, which are often equivalent to roulette. 1.9 is simply too short for Ivo to win in straight sets, particularly when we consider that he crashed out to unseeded Luka Gregorc in last week's Pilot Pen Tennis tournament, where his serve was broken with alarming regularity.

Richard Gasquet remains one of the most talented players on the mens' tour, and he will be looking to go deep into the second week on his favourite surface. He faces a tough first round encounter against the unseeded Tommy Haas, whose own form has plummeted spectacularly. Haas was destroyed by the in-form Juan Martin del Potro at the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament, but the Argentinian hardly needed to do anything special to win 6-2, 6-1. Even more worryingly, he was beaten with ease by American Donald Young just a couple of weeks ago, and the odds of 1.6+ on Gasquet certainly seem generous.

Elsewhere, I feel that Ernests Gulbis is a good shout to beat ageing Swede Thomas Johansson. The 19 year old Latvian seems destined for great things, and leads the H2H 1:0 with a straight sets win last year on carpet. Paul-Henri Mathieu can be one of the most frustrating players on tour, but should still have more than enough in his locker to dispose of fellow Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean.

NJ's Bets:

Lay Ivo Karlovic 3-0 vs Jan Minar - 3pts liability @ 1.9 Betfair

Gasquet/Mathieu/Gulbis treble - 2.5pts @ 2.51