US Open betting tips: Outright predictions and selections

The final Grand Slam of the season begins at iconic Flushing Meadows, New York, on Sunday and the star names dominate the outright markets for both the men’s and women’s draws.

Defending champion Jannik Sinner and his great rival Carlos Alcaraz have shared the last seven men’s Grand Slam singles titles and have contested the French Open and Wimbledon finals this year. 

They are a long way clear in the betting for the men’s tournament, but others will have designs on ending their run of Slam victories.

The women’s event is slightly more open – reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka disputes favouritism with resurgent Wimbledon and Cincinnati winner Iga Swiatek, but French Open champion Coco Gauff also holds claims in her homeland.

US Open Tennis Tips

• Ben Shelton to win the men’s singles @ 20/1
• Aryna Sabalenka to win women’s singles @ 3/1
• Madison Keys to win women’s singles @ 20/1

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Shelton Poised For Grand Slam Breakthrough

In the men’s event, it is hard to see past Sinner and Alcaraz, who renewed their rivalry in the Cincinnati Open final earlier this month, in which the Spaniard took the title after Sinner was forced to retire with illness.

Assuming Sinner is back to operating at full health, he looks a worthy favourite having won the last three hard-court Grand Slam titles – two in Australia and one in New York 12 months ago.

The men deemed most likely to stop the top two, Novak Djokovic and Jack Draper, have both not been seen in singles action since Wimbledon, so it could instead pay to have an each-way bet on Ben Shelton, who is bidding to become the first American US Open winner since Andy Roddick in 2003.

Shelton was a Flushing Meadows semi-finalist in 2023 and he reached the same round in the Australian Open at the start of this season. The big-serving 22-year-old will relish this challenge and he returns to New York in fine form having won the Canadian Open before running out of steam in the Cincinnati quarter-finals.

While he could face Alcaraz in the semi-finals, the world No.2 has looked vulnerable in the early stages of Grand Slams, including when losing to Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round of last year’s US Open. If he falls early, Shelton could take advantage.

Sabalenka Can Retain Women’s Crown

Despite Swiatek’s upturn in form, the Pole has something to prove in hard-court Slams, having failed to reach a final on the surface since winning her sole US Open title in 2022.

While Sabalenka suffered a semi-final exit at Wimbledon then fell at the quarter-final stage in Cincinnati, she is still the WTA Tour’s dominant force on hard, having reached five straight finals at the Australian and US Opens, winning three of them.

She could meet her Cincinnati conqueror Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals, but Sabalenka should improve significantly after that encouraging return to action in Ohio. She is still the one to beat in the women’s tournament.

With Sabalenka in the top half, there could be each-way value in the bottom half, for all that Swiatek will expect to at least reach the last four from the bottom quarter.

Gauff and Naomi Osaka are housed in the third quarter and could clash in round four, and if that showdown materialises, it could play into the hands of Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who could quickly find her form and rhythm from a fairly easy draw at the top of that section.

US hopeful Keys, who was beaten by her close friend and compatriot Sloane Stephens in the Flushing Meadows final in 2017, has had a weight lifted off her shoulders after winning in Melbourne, and can go one better eight years on.

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Odds correct at time of writing

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