Two in form players Nicolas Almagro and Julien Benneteau meet in the first round of the US Open this afternoon and whilst the washing line has the Spaniard at a general 4/9 the Frenchman will definitely give him a strong run out. This is confirmed by the head to head stats which stand at one all, with both events having been staged on a hard court surface.
Almagro has had a great year on the red stuff winning three titles but he slips a few pounds down the ratings on anything else and although he is the tenth seed here his track record isn’t that great and he has yet to get beyond the 3rd round at Flushing. A slightly worrying stat for the odds on backers is that Almagro has packed his bags before the second round in 11 out of 29 slam appearances, including a first round exit at Roland Garros this year.
Benneteau doesn’t have a record in the US to write back to France about but he is in strong form as he showed last week in making the final against Isner and playing three set matches from the round of 16 onwards. He will be match tough today.
2/1 is available for the Frenchman but for the more conservative the call has to be to back him on the handicap getting +4.5 games.
