Tennis best bets for ATP Shanghai and WTA Beijing – Saturday, October 7
There isn’t much time left in the 2023 tennis season, but the Asian swing brings us some really big tournaments. This week, the men are in action for a 1000-level event, which is the biggest a tournament can be outside of the four Grand Slams. Meanwhile, the women are playing in a 500-level tournament, so I’ll also be keeping tabs on that. That said, I wanted to put together some best bets for both ATP Shanghai and WTA Beijing. Keep reading for my two plays for Saturday, October 7 (with some starting on Friday, October 6 in the United States).
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Coco Gauff vs. Iga Swiatek
We were supposed to see Gauff against Swiatek at the US Open, but Ostapenko eliminated the Pole and spoiled the fun. Now, we’re finally getting a rematch of their three-set match in Cincinnati, and I do think we’re going to see a locked in version of Swiatek here. Gauff does enter this match on a 16-match winning streak, and she is clearly a top-tier player in the sport at this point. But I do think at some point she’s going to experience a little burnout, as she’s a young player that just won the biggest tournament of her life. Meanwhile, I think Swiatek is eager to reclaim her spot atop the WTA rankings. I also think we’ve seen an impressive version of the Pole in Beijing thus far. She won her first three matches in straight sets and then won a hard-fought battle against Caroline Garcia. And Swiatek served very well in that win and she’s going to need to bring that here. But I’m confident she will and I’m backing her to cover the small game spread.
Bet: Swiatek -2.5 Games (-120)
Diego Schwartzman vs. Jiri Lehecka
I’m laying a little juice on Schwartzman to win a set off Lehecka here. I had Schwartzman in his win over Luca van Assche last round and I think the Argentinean is really starting to find his form. His rally tolerance isn’t all the way back to where it was when he was the eighth-ranked player in the world, but it’s closer to there than where it was when he simply couldn’t win matches. Now, I like Schwartzman’s ability to play a lot of shots against Lehecka, who hasn’t been playing good tennis recently. I think Schwartzman will really grind him down from the baseline, and I also think the Argentinean will get into his service games rather often. So, I’m playing this set spread. But I wouldn’t be too shocked if he won outright.
Bet: Schwartzman +1.5 Sets (-158)
2023 Overall Record: 289-261 (+49.66 units)
