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Horse Racing Tuesday Tennis Best Bet: ATP French Open, Novak Djokovic vs Karen Khachanov
Novak Djokovic vs Karen Khachanov Best Bet: Tuesday, June 6th
Ask and ye shall receive. I asked for something to go our way at the margins and boy did I get it with Casper Ruud on Monday. Let’s just say that his win was one of the least inspiring straight-set victories I’ve seen at the grand slam level. He was well behind in both the second and third sets (through his own poor play, to be fair) and managed to come back to cover both the games and sets handicaps.
Let’s just say that if the match was played at altitude like the one a few weeks back, it may have been an even more lopsided win for Nicolas Jarry.
Tuesday brings the quarterfinals from Roland Garros though, as each player can certainly see the finish line within grasp. For the men’s preview, let’s take a look at the match between Novak Djokovic and Karen Khachanov.
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Novak Djokovic vs Karen Khachanov Preview
June 6th, 13:00 (UK Time)
Any slow start to the clay season for one of the sport’s all-time greats is well and truly in the rearview at this point.
The injury concerns, form, whatever it may have been appear to have been rectified just in time for Djokovic to mount his campaign for yet another title at one of the sport’s four majors. He was sensational in withstanding relentless pressure and counterpunching in the opening set against Marton Fucsovics, before putting him away with relative ease in the second and third sets.
He did the same against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, overcoming his own sluggish start and some terrific play from the Spaniard to win that one in straight sets as well. Then in the fourth round, he took advantage of a clearly-fatigued Juan Pablo Varillas, beating him by a wide margin to reach this stage.
In fact, he’s won every set he’s played this week in Paris and has still lost just one set this season at a grand slam.
That said, Khachanov is no pushover in his own right. A decent mover for his size, comfortable on all surfaces and with weapons from the baseline, Khachanov has quietly become one of the sport’s more reliable players when it comes to the best-of-five set format.
He reached the semifinals at both the U.S. Open last summer and Australian Open in January. Now he’s into the quarterfinals here.
While I wouldn’t make a case for him to beat Djokovic outright (the inconsistencies in his game are still a bit too much for me to believe he can pull off the upset), I do think he’s capable of taking a set off of Djokovic and keeping things close.
Novak Djokovic vs Karen Khachanov Best Bet
With the market so bullish on the world No. 3, we’re actually seeing some value in the markets that tend to be correlated with who wins.
As much as I think Djokovic comes through this match, a 7.5-game head start for a player with Khachanov’s talent and emerging pedigree at this level is a rather large number and one I’ll back with caution.
- Selection: Khachanov +7.5 Games
- Best Odds: 1.92 (Pinnacle)
- Stakes: 2/10
Odds as at 1:00 am UK Time on June 5th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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