US Open - Mens 2017

A Grand Slam without Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonis and David Goffin. That's like a World Cup without Germany, Spain, Portugal, England and Belgium. It would basically be a bit shit right?

We'll get on with it though, and Andy Murray's withdrawal from an incredibly weak bottom section on Saturday makes for a pretty interesting betting heat.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have enjoyed a renaissance in 2017, and the absence of Murray and Djokovic especially gives them both a great chance of continuing that reversal of fortune.

Starting in the top section, Nadal will have to navigate past the likes of Grigor Dimitrov, Tomas Berdych and Gael Monfils to reach the semi-finals. He's risen again to World Number One of course, but just as he has reached the pinnacle once again, he is beginning to fault, and hasn't reached a final since the French Open. Perhaps his planning to peak for that event has taking it's inevitable toll. Fortunately Nadal should have a nice little run to at least the fourth round, but when the cutting edge appears, he may find Grigor Dimitrov a pretty worthy opponent.

While Nadal would start favourite shoudl the pair meet, it could be worth backing the Bulgarian to get the better of the Spaniard despite a poor head to hear. Nadal leads their encounters 8-1, but Dimitrov won in China last season, and took Nadal the distance in Mebourne at the Australian Open. At 4/1 he looks decent value to win the quarter.

1pt Grigor Dimitrov to win the 1st Qaurter at 4/1 (Generally)

The big guns continue in the 2nd part, where Roger Federer, Nick Kyrgois and Juan Martin Del Potro all sit. Federer is the bookmakers 4/6 favourite to reach the semi-finals from this part of the draw, and has shown similar discipline in his preparation for this event to that which earned him another Wimbledon title back in July.

Since that title, he has taken another step back from the game, choosing only to play Montreal ahead of this event - he reached the final, losing to Alexander Zverev.

Nick Kyrgios is the main threat, and it's only a matter of time before the Autralian really takes a step forward. He reached the final in Cincinatti last time out, and that could be great preparation for this event - he beat Goffin, Nadal and Ferrer along the way which will leave him high on confidence. We'll continue to gamble and back the Aussie at 13/2 to progress to the semis at the expense of Federer.

1pt Nick Kyrgios to win the 2nd Quarter at 13/2 (Generally)

Into the third part and there should be no doubting the favourite to progress. Alexander Zverez has been a finalist at Halle and won both Washington and Montreal (accounting for Federer, Anderson, Kyrgois and Nishikori along the way).He;s also claimed titles in Montpellier, Rome and Munich this season, so he's certainly a man to take seriously.

His part of the draw houses him with Marin Cilic - a player who hasn't played since that meltdown at Wimbledon. It's hard to see him bouncing back strongly enough to enjoy success here, and while injury played a big part in that defeat, the mental scars may last longer for the Croat.

John Isner is another threat, but for all his reliability against modest opponents, he just doesn't seem to possess a good enough all round game against the better players, and may always be the nearly man. He reached the semi-finals in Cincinatti, but played three Wild Cards along the way, so it was not much more than a par result.

1pt Alexander Zverez to win the 3rd Quarter at 11/8 with BetFred

The final quarter is a real minefield - Jo Wilfried Tsonga, David Ferrer, Lucas Pouille, Kyle Edmund and Steve Johnson all have decent claims. We're going to side with Tsonga despite a not managing a win in Montreal or Cincinatti. He played Sam Querrey and Ivo Karlovic in those matches, where an upset wasn't as unexpected as it could have been given how their big serving styles matched up against the Frenchman. Tsonga is a 4/1 shot to win the section, and that is fair enough.

With the draw so top heavy we can't resist an e/w bet on Zverev to win the tournament at 11/2. With recent form under his belt and a draw that he could barely have picked better if he'd written it up himself, we can justify what looks a short price on the face of it.

We'll also chance a small e/w bet on David Ferrer given his recent form in the US. He's banked wins against Kyle Edmund, Dominic Thiem, Steve Johnson and Jack Sock amongst others, and his two defeats came to Roger Federer (in three sets) and a double tie break reversal to Nick Kyrgios that could have gone either way.

1pt e/w Alexander Zverev to win the US Open at 11/2

0.5pts e/w David Ferrer to win the US Open at 150/1

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