Montreal Masters: 2nd Round

The local crowds will have more than enough to cheer about in the second round with three Canadians on centre court! Polanksy takes on Federer, 18 year old Shapovalov meets Del Potro while Raonic closes things out when he faces tricky left hander Mannarino. They will all start rank outsiders but that will not stop the Montreal faithful from getting right behind them. After seeing Schwartzman take down Thiem there will be plenty of belief hovering around the locker room!

Feature Previews

Peter Polansky v Roger Federer

Polansky has been nothing but money for The Wolfpack over the last fortnight and there is no better time to take on Federer than his first match after an extended break. The 19 time grand slam champion has made 5 finals here for two wins and just yesterday celebrated his 36th birthday. His 31-2 record in 2017 is quite phenomenal nut both those losses came early in tournaments when returning from time off. The Wolf is not saying that Federer will lose to Polansky but is suggesting that he could take time to get going. Polansky has played a lot of tennis over the last month and made 3 consecutive finals at Challenger level. He will not be handing this one to Federer and that makes the Over a great bet.

Best Bet: Over 18.5 games ($1.73)

Alexander Zverev v Richard Gasquet

The Wolf has been telling us about this Zverev kis for a long time but he is a kid no more. He claimed his 4th title of the season in Washington last week and is all but a shoe in to end the year in the top 5. He is 2-0 lifetime against Gasquet and with the Frenchman struggling in his match we could see this one coming to an end in no time. Zverev’s serve was close to unbreakable last week. He made some in form players including Anderson and Nishikori look second rate and the 1st round bye where will have given him ample time to recover. Zverev in straight!

Best: Sets Zverev 2-0 ($2.05)

Rafael Nadal v Borna Coric

Very few people in men’s tennis have a winning record against Rafael Nadal but Coric is one of them! He leads their H2H 2-1 with their most recent meetings coming a little under a year ago. What is more impressive is that both of those wins came in straight sets and he also took a set off Nadal in his only loss. He posted a comfortable win in his opening match against Youzhny while Nadal is in his first match since his loss to Muller at Wimbledon. Nadal is a 3 time winner here and it comes as no surprise with the Montreal courts renowned for being slow in comparison to other hard courts. Like Rafa, Coric loves the slower conditions and we will see a heap of long baseline exchanges. Nadal’s timing could be slightly off and with a strong record against him The Wolf can see Coric push giving the Spaniard trouble yet again.

Best Bet: Coric +4.5 ($1.73)