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Horse Racing Thursday Tennis Best Bet: ATP Challenger Surbiton, Ilya Ivashka vs Rinky Hijikata
Ilya Ivashka vs Rinky Hijikata Best Bet: Thursday, June 8th
I’m not exaggerating when I say that Holger Rune may have played the worst match of the tournament Wednesday evening at Roland Garros. It’s hard to put into words how poor he was. In fact, the breaks prop may have had a chance if he could’ve found one or two as a strong returner in three sets, seeing as how badly Casper Ruud beat him down through two sets.
For Thursday, we head down to the Challenger Tour, since the men are off at Roland Garros as it’s women’s semifinal day. Let’s head to the event in Surbiton and look more at the match between Ilya Ivashka and Rinky Hijikata.
In this article:
Ilya Ivashka vs Rinky Hijikata Preview
June 8th, 12:30 (UK Time)
The countdown to Wimbledon is on! Even as we’re still focused on the French Open, grass season has begun, with the Challenger event in Surbiton (a combined event with the women, who are playing a high-end ITF W100 at the venue this week as well) in full swing.
With poor clay seasons firmly in their rearview mirrors, Ivashka and Hijikata are both 1-0 to start the short, but sweet grass-court portion of the calendar.
It makes sense, with both preferring quicker surfaces than the slower red clay. Hijikata in particular should enjoy these conditions, as his underpowered game tends to play up on the grass, he’s solid from the baseline and the low bounces are right in his wheelhouse.
Ivashka and his serve will enjoy the free points that should come on the lightning-quick courts. While his first forehand and relative consistency from the baseline are also pluses for the Belarussian.
Ilya Ivashka vs Rinky Hijikata Best Bet
While oftentimes the distinction between a regular at tour level and a Challenger Tour player would be important to make, the grass season is so short and the surface is so unique that a lot of the time, there is value in backing an underdog whose game profiles well on the lawns in England.
I think that’s the case here, with Hijikata coming through his opening match without facing a single break point and winning points at a very high clip behind both his first and second offerings.
Now, that was against Billy Harris, but the Brit is a bit more used to these kinds of conditions, and the result is rather impressive nonetheless.
If Hijikata can find a service performance remotely close to that and combine it with his strong movement, counterpunching and defensive play, he should be able to push Ivashka, and potentially pull off the upset on Thursday.
- Selection: Hijikata +3.5 games
- Best Odds: 1.95 (Pinnacle)
- Stakes: 2/10
Odds as at 2:30 am UK Time on June 7th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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