The first round continues Tuesday and DraftKings features their $20 Stars and Stripes Slam contest with a $20k top prize. I'll guide you through some of the matches and my favorite plays for the slate, which starts at 11 a.m. EST.
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Top Tier
Roman Safiullin ($11,300) over Matthew Forbes
Forbes was a surprise winner of the Kalamazoo 18s to get a wildcard into the main draw, and this is going to be a huge step up in class for the Michigan State freshman who went just 1-3 across three junior grand slam appearances this year. It's certainly a lot of salary to spend up on here, but Safiullin should be able to make quick work out of this match with a UTR nearly three points higher than Forbes.
Caroline Wozniacki ($9,600) over Nao Hibino
This will be the first meeting between these two, and although Wozniacki isn't the most exciting player to watch, she puts a lot of balls in play and does a great job of breaking down inferior opponents. That's what she has here in Hibino, who needed three sets in each of her three qualifying matches just to get into the main draw. Hibino has never made it past the second round of any grand slam is only 1-5 at the U.S. Open.
Honorable Mention: Jannik Sinner ($11,100) over Mackenzie McDonald, Jordan Thompson ($10,300) over Constant Lestienne
Middle Tier
Karen Khachanov ($8,900) over Daniel Evans
34-year-old Evans is finally showing signs of his age with a 9-20 record including 0-3 in grand slams this year. He's even dropped down to play in a few challenger events, failing to reach the semis in any of them. This should be a good opportunity for Khachanov, a 2022 U.S. Open semifinalist to pick up a routine victory.
Borna Coric ($8,800) over Adrian Mannarino
Speaking of players fading in the latter part of their career, Mannarino has been unable to carry the momentum of a strong 2023 campaign into this year with an 8-21 (28 percent) record. In fact, he's failed to win more than four games on seven occasions this year. He'll face Coric, who seems to play some of his best tennis in New York, being a past U.S. Open junior champion on top of making his only grand slam quarter here in 2020.
Honorable Mention: Jack Draper ($9,000) over Zhizhen Zhang, Quentin Halys ($7,500) over Otto Virtanen
Value Tier
Sara Errani ($6,400) over Cristina Bucsa
I know Errani has struggled this year but this isn't a matchup she's going to be scared of having won their only meeting 3&2 in 2022. Bucsa is essentially a career grinder who only has one U.S. Open win in three tries, and I'm not as confident as the oddsmakers are in making her the favorite.
Marcos Giron ($5,400) over Alex de Minaur
Giron leads the head-to-head series 3-1 over de Minaur, and although they haven't faced each other since 2021, Giron is playing better now then he was back then and that should give him plenty of confidence going into this meeting. De Minaur has not played since injuring his hip at Wimbledon, so this is a tough spot for him to return to not being match ready. Giron won Newport to begin the summer and will have the home crowd support as he looks to pull off the upset.
Honorable Mention: Ena Shibahara ($6,700) over Daria Saville, Renata Zarazua ($6,200) over Caroline Garcia
