The new ATP Cup has made an extremely successful debut on the tennis Tour with fans around the world tuning in to watch their country play. Aussies have had the luxury of the inaugural tournament playing out on our doorstep and our nation’s representatives certainly haven’t disappointed on the court, making it all the way to the final four!
Here, we take a look at both of the upcoming semi-finals, which will play out across the day/night on Saturday, January 11th. Check out our best bets for the ties below and good luck to everyone following!
ATP Cup Semi Finals Betting Tips
Serbia vs Russia
Saturday, 11am AEDT
The first of the two ties sees Serbia take on Russia from 11am AEDT on Saturday. Serbia have enjoyed a fantastic ATP Cup thus far, winning all four of their matches to progress to the semis. Novak Djokovic of course is the man with the most responsibility and he’s handled it well winning all of his matches to date. Dusan Lajovic is the Serbian #2 and has performed well, losing just one of his four matches coming in (vs Paire).
Russia have emerged as a genuine powerhouse in the world of tennis thanks to their young superstars in Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov. Medvedev has handled his duties as their #1 very well so far, dispatching all opposition #1’s in his four matches, while Khachanov has also won all four and has dropped just one set in the process.
There’s little splitting these nations in this tie in the betting market, however, we lean towards Serbia to progress through to the final. You have to fancy Djokovic to get the job done on the big stage against Medvedev and we also like Lajovic as an underdog against Khachanov in the tie opener ($3.18 Sportsbet). If it’s 1-1 and comes down to the doubles, then the likely pairing of Djokovic/Troicki has the experience over Khachanov/Medvedev. All in all, we’re more than happy to be on Serbia at even money here.
Australia vs Spain
Saturday, 6:30pm AEDT
The second of the semi-final ties will feature Australia taking on Spain from 6:30pm AEDT on Saturday night. Australia progressed through to the semis in mircaculous style with the doubles pairing of Kyrgios/De Minaur saluting 18-16 in a third set tiebreaker. Nick Kyrgios was the clutch guy and has really dominated all tournament, winning all four of his singles matches. Alex De Minaur has also been very good, although he was a loser last time out to a lesser opponent in Dan Evans from Great Britain.
Spain were expected to deal with Belgium a lot easier than how it played out. They too needed a third set tiebreaker in the doubles to progress through to the final with the Nadal/Carreno Busta pairing winning by the skin of their teeth. Surprisingly, the reason this tie was decided in the doubles was because Rafael Nadal lost his singles matchup in straight sets against David Goffin, which was Nadal’s first loss of the tournament. Spanish #2 Roberto Bautista Agut has dominated his opponents in all three of his matches, but he’s yet to face the quality of opponent he will against the Aussies.
Australia are the underdogs here and that’s probably fair enough considering Spain are the reigning Davis Cup champions and also boast two top 10 singles players. However, Nick Kyrgios is playing some of the best tennis of his career and we expect him to win on the big stage against Bautista Agut, while De Minaur will likely lose his match against Nadal. This will have the tie come down to the doubles with the Kyrgios/De Minaur pairing coming up against Nadal/Carreno Busta. For us, this is literally anyone’s game and you can flip a coin to determine who wins. For these reasons, getting $2.50 for the Aussies is the value play here.
