Tennis
2022-01-19 - Soonwoo Kwon vs Denis Shapovalov
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis: Australian Open Second Round
Wednesday 19th January 2022 - Scheduled 1pm
2am (British Time)
Preview
Both of these players spent over three hours on court to win their opening matches at the Australian Open, but you don't anticipate that being a big problem for Denis Shapovalov and Soonwoo Kwon at this stage of the season. You have to believe that both will be confident in themselves having to battle through matches, but I also think the higher Ranked Denis Shapovalov has enough of an edge in this one to be deserving of being backed for a cover.
I tend to believe that Denis Shapovalov is a little over-rated by the layers- as good as a player as he clearly is, the return game continues to be a work in progress and that puts a lot of pressure on his serve. It also makes it hard to believe in him when it comes to very high spreads at the Grand Slam tournaments, although this one looks just short enough.
The Canadian helped his nation win the ATP Cup earlier this month and so he has to be confident, while he did have a strong run at Wimbledon last year in between disappointing Third Round exits at both the Australian and US Opens. Denis Shapovalov is still young enough to believe more is to come, but his hard court numbers are far from impressive and even this season his 4-1 record has been built on tight margins.
However, I do think the match up presents a good chance for Denis Shapovalov to earn a relatively comfortable passage through to the Third Round. He is facing Soonwoo Kwon who needed five back and forth sets to move through to the Second Round, but who has struggled to really fulfil some of the potential he has shown.
Soonwoo Kwon has only made the Third Round of one previous Grand Slam and his performances before the Australian Open have been a little inconsistent. The South Korean does not have the same service potential as Denis Shapovalov, but he is the superior returner in this match and he will have to try and put his opponent under pressure with that shot.
It is a huge challenge for him though and the numbers dip significantly when Soonwoo Kwon has played top 100 Ranked opponents on the hard courts. That has been the case on serve and return and he was also beaten pretty easily by Denis Shapovalov eighteen months ago at the US Open in four sets.
Much is going to depend on Denis Shapovalov and his return game, but I think he will see enough balls to get back in play to work his way into a position to win this Second Round match. The cover may be a little touch and go at times, but I think the Canadian will have the opportunities to find the breaks to get into a position to do that.
Prediction
Lay the games with the higher Ranked player.
The Pick :
Soonwoo Kwon 1-3 Denis Shapovalov
