TipResumen

PREVIEW

There is no doubt this is the best looking match in the men's First Round at the US Open and the layers are finding it tough to decide who will win when Grigor Dimitrov takes on Stan Wawrinka. There are some serious doubts about both of these players with neither showing strong form and it makes picking a winner slightly more awkward. It is Dimitrov who has the better of the head to head, but their two previous matches at Grand Slam level have both been won by Stan Wawrinka. The last of those came at the last Grand Slam at Wimbledon where Dimitrov was knocked out by Wawrinka in the First Round but that was a very close match and the Bulgarian has to be kicking himself that he was not able to secure the win. In general his performances on the hard courts have been disappointing too in 2018 and Dimitrov's numbers have really slipped off his recent standards. The real decline has come on the return of serve which was going to make him an over-rated favourite as far as I was concerned, but the draw means Dimitrov is actually the underdog in this match and I like his position there. While Dimitrov's serve and return numbers are down, he is still winning very slightly more points in matches on the hard courts. That could be significant in this match because Stan Wawrinka has been struggling for consistency and has won less points than his opponents on this surface in 2018. Wawrinka is having more issues on the return of serve than Dimitrov when it comes to hard court matches and that is where the narrow underdog in this match could be the right play. Both players have had some decent wins in Toronto and Cincinnati over the last month, but Wawrinka has had to dig deep to win a couple of his matches and the limited return game has been a factor as to why he has yet to reach the heights he can following injury. Their match at Wimbledon was incredibly close and it won't take a lot to turn that around in favour of Dimitrov here. I am anticipating a very close match, but Dimitrov has the ever so slightly better percentage when it comes to the hold of serve and break of serve. That is enough to have me backing him as the underdog in this quality looking First Round match that could potentially go all the way to five sets on Monday.



PREDICTION

Back the underdog in this First Round match in what looks a close contest.