The Monte Carlo Masters proved to be one of the most exciting tournaments of the 2019 ATP World Tour to date with so many upsets taking place over an eventful week. Our pick for the event (Rafael Nadal) looked the goods early on but came up against a determined Italian in the form of Fabio Fognini, who would defeat him in semi-finals in straight sets and go on to win his first Masters 1000 title in similar fashion (dftd. Lajovic 6-3, 6-4).
We now turn our attention to this weekend’s most prestigious event, which is ATP 500 event in Barcelona. The Barcelona Open is a clay court event that features a 48-strong field including some of the biggest names in men’s tennis. As usual, we’ve scoured the betting markets to find the best value plays for the week in hope of continuing our profitable season. Check them out below and good luck to everyone following!
ATP Barcelona Open Betting Tips
There isn’t a great deal of different markets for the Barcelona Open this week as it’s not as prestigious as the Masters 1000 or Grand Slams that we usually write on. However, we believe the plays we’ve found below are still high quality and a great chance of saluting. We’ve also included a list of the top 10 seeded players below for reference.
Top 10 Seeded Players
(1) Rafael Nadal (Spain) – World Ranking #2
(2) Alexander Zverev (Germany) – WR #3
(3) Dominic Thiem (Austria) – WR #5
(4) Kei Nishikori (Japan) – WR #6
(5) Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) – WR #8
(6) Karen Khachanov (Russia) – WR #12
(7) Daniil Medvedev (Russia) – WR #14
(8) Fabio Fognini (Italy) – WR #18
(9) Denis Shapovalov (Canada) – WR #20
(10) David Goffin (Belgium) – WR #21
Tournament Winner
Rafael Nadal looked like value at $1.90 after his opening round demolition job over Roberto Bautista Agut (6-1, 6-1) at Monte Carlo, but as the week went on his form seemed to evaporate with his body showing signs of fatigue.
Dominic Thiem was another that started off with a dominant performance last week at Monte Carlo, but he then lost in the second round to surprise finalist Dusan Lajovic. Despite the early exit, Thiem comes in as the second favourite at Barcelona.
Alexander Zverev is the only other player that comes into this with a single figure quote ($9). Zverev has had decent success the past two clay court seasons and is one you can’t count out. He too was knocked out by an eventual finalist in the second round at Monte Carlo in the form of Fabio Fognini, who would go on to be crowned champion.
While Rafael Nadal is undoubtedly the best of all time on a clay court surface, his injury concerns mean we’ll pass up on him at the $1.60 quote and take the next best clay player at Barcelona in Dominic Thiem. Thiem’s loss to Fognini last week was justified when the Italian then went on to win the final in straight sets, so we’re prepared to give him another chance. With a fairly straight forward draw to the semi-finals, we expect Thiem to make a big run at odds.
Also backing: Alexander Zverev $9
Quarter 4 Winner
The other market we’ve found some decent value in is the ‘Quarter 4 Winner at BetEasy. We really like the look of world number 3 Alexander Zverev’s draw here. He’s seeded 2ndso he obviously avoids the 1stseed in Rafael Nadal, but he’s also managed to avoid Dominic Thiem and last week’s Monte Carlo champion Fabio Fognini. We see the only real threat in the German’s quarter as Daniil Medvedev, who’s enjoying a fairly consistent season so far. However, Zverev is more than capable on the clay court surface and has the ability to defeat anyone in the world on his day. All things considered, we see this as a great bet.