Tennis Betting Tips: Raducanu to upset Rybakina in Flushing Meadows

Day Six of the US Open, and we are now entering the third round, with spots in next week's last 16 up for grabs.

Below are Friday's Tennis Betting Tips, featuring a top-10 player from the men's and women's in Flushing Meadows...

Match Betting - Emma Raducanu (GBR) to beat Elena Rybakina (KAZ) @ 6/4

British No. 1 Emma Raducanu beat Ena Shibahara 6-1, 6-2 in the US Open first round on Sunday, wrapping up the victory in an hour and three minutes to register the quickest Grand Slam main-draw victory of her career.

The 22-year-old then beat her own record by two minutes in the second round on Wednesday, easing past Janice Tjen 6-2, 6-1 in an hour and one minute.

Raducanu now holds a 10-4 record since the start of Wimbledon (8-3 on hard courts), and her last nine victories have come in straight sets.

The 2021 US Open winner is likely to find things much more difficult in the third round on Friday, though, as she will face number nine seed Elena Rybakina, who was her doubles partner at the Washington Open last month.

Rybakina also has a major to her name, after winning Wimbledon in 2022, and has lifted nine WTA Tour-level singles titles.

The Russian-born Kazakhstani player is in good form herself, winning 12 of her 15 matches in this North American swing so far. She reached the semi-finals in Washington, Montreal and Cincinnati, although she failed to reach the final in all three locations, losing to the eventual champion every time.

Rybakina has already equalled her career-best performance at the US Open, achieved in 2021 and 2023, but is now targeting a first second-week stage appearance. She made light work of 16-year-old Julieta Pareja (6-3, 6-0) in the first round, but wasn't entirely convincing against 18-year-old Tereza Valentova (6-3, 7-6) on Wednesday, having to fend off four set points in the second set.

The 26-year-old has the upper hand in the head-to-head with Raducanu, dismantling the Brit 6-0, 6-1 in their only previous meeting at the Sydney Open, but that was in January 2022, and should have little bearing on what we will witness this week.

This could be a contest that goes to a deciding set, and potentially a deciding tiebreak, but it's Raducanu who I'm backing to come out on top and clinch a last-16 spot. She's playing with such confidence at the moment, and while I acknowledge she has only won three of her 17 matches against top-10 players and has never beaten a fellow Grand Slam winner, her performances against World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka offer real hope ahead of Friday's match.

Sabalenka beat Raducanu at this year's Wimbledon (7-6, 6-4) and Cincinnati Open (7-6, 4-6, 7-6), but was made to work extremely hard for her victories, and if Rybakina plays how she did in midweek against Valentova, her opponent will stand a real chance of pulling off an upset in their third-round meeting.

Set Betting - Ben Shelton (USA) 3-0 vs Adrian Mannarino (FRA) @ 6/5

World No. 6 Ben Shelton has enjoyed a straightforward start to his US Open campaign, beating Ignacio Buse (6-3, 6-2, 6-4) and Pablo Carreno Busta (6-4, 6-2, 6-4) in straight sets to set up a third-round meeting on Friday with Adrian Mannarino, who eased past Tallon Griekspoor (7-5, 6-4, 6-0) in his opening match before seeing off Jordan Thompson (6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3) on Wednesday.

Shelton and Mannarino have played each other three times previously, with the Frenchman winning the first two, at the Miami Open (6-4, 3-6, 6-1) and Australian Open (7-6, 1-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4), in March 2023 and January 2024, respectively.

However, Shelton got a win on the board last month, beating the 37-year-old in straight sets at the Canadian Open in Montreal (6-2, 6-3), with Mannarino failing to break the American's big serve.

Mannarino can be an awkward opponent, but at this stage of his career, he shouldn't be posing too many problems for a top-10 player like Shelton, who made the semi-finals of the Washington Open last month, and quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open two weeks ago, either side of winning the Canadian Open in Toronto.

The 22-year-old is in terrific form, and after overcoming the fatigue he felt in Cincinnati, looks to be back to his best in New York. I think Shelton gets this one done in straight sets again.

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