Tennis Betting Tips: Raducanu to run reigning champ close again

In Friday's Tennis Betting Tips, I successfully backed Damir Dzumhur to beat Mattia Bellucci at 5/4, and Reilly Opelka to secure a straight-sets victory over Hugo Dellien at 1/2, although Sonay Kartal's failure to triumph 2-0 against Caroline Garcia - the Brit herself lost by that scoreline - denied us a 4.73/1 treble winner.

The Cincinnati Open remains my focus for Monday's Tennis Betting Tips, which you can check out below.

Set Betting - Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (ESP) 2-0 vs Taylor Townsend (USA) @ 12/5

Taylor Townsend (8/11) is favourite to beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (11/10) in the third round of the Cincinnati Open on Monday, but for me, this is a match the Spaniard can win - in straight sets.

The two players have met just once before, on the WTA Challenger Tour in February last year, and at the Puerto Vallarta Open in Mexico, Bouzas Maneiro triumphed 6-3, 6-4.

Eighteen months later, the 22-year-old is World No. 42 ahead of her second head-to-head with Townsend, who is ranked 84 places below her and more famed for her achievements in doubles.

The American upset the odds against Danielle Collins (6-4, 7-6) and Liudmila Samsonova (6-2, 6-4) in the opening couple of rounds in Cincinnati, while a straight-sets victory over Sofia Kenin (6-3, 6-0), after overcoming Tatjana Maria (6-4, 7-5) in the first round of the Washington Open last month, was also impressive.

However, the 29-year-old was stopped in the Evergreen State by eventual champion Leylah Fernandez (4-6, 6-7), who was dumped out of the Cincinnati Open on Saturday by Bouzas Maneiro (3-6, 3-6).

Townsend may have won six of her last seven contests, but the Spaniard has triumphed in nine of her last 11, only narrowly losing to World No. 18 Samsonova (5-7, 5-7) on grass in the last 16 of Wimbledon and suffering a Canadian Open quarter-final defeat to eventual winner Victoria Mboko (4-6, 2-6) in front of a partisan crowd in Montreal.

Granted, Townsend will enjoy home support on Monday, but Bouzas Maneiro has been in terrific form and, as the more adept singles player, will have too much for her opponent here, in my opinion.

I'm taking Bouzas Maneiro, who overcame a one-sided stadium in the first round against Venus Williams (6-4, 6-4), to silence the supporters again in a straight-sets success.

Game Handicap - Emma Raducanu (GBR) +4.5 vs Aryna Sabalenka (Wrl) @ 4/5

Emma Raducanu's renaissance continued on Saturday with a second-round win over Olga Danilovic (6-3, 6-2) in Cincinnati. The 22-year-old had started to show some form on clay and grass, but on the North American hard courts, she's really started to kick on.

The British No. 1 reached the semi-finals of the Washington Open last month, beating Marta Kostyuk (7-6, 6-4), Naomi Osaka (6-4, 6-2) and Maria Sakkari (6-4, 7-5) - all in straight sets - before falling to Anna Kalinskaya (4-6, 3-6).

Then, at the Canadian Open in Montreal, she beat Elena Gabriela Ruse (6-2, 6-4) and Peyton Stearns (6-2, 6-4) en route to a third-round loss to World No.8 and 2025 Wimbledon runner-up Amanda Anisimova (2-6, 1-6).

That's now six straight-set wins in her last eight matches on hard courts, while at the Miami Open in May, just before turning her attention to clay, she reached the quarter-finals, overcoming the challenges of Sayaka Ishii (6-2, 6-1), Emma Navarro (7-6, 2-6, 7-6), McCartney Kessler (6-1, 6-0) and Anisimova (6-1, 6-3), before going down to Jessica Pegula (4-6, 7-6, 2-6).

Raducanu has her confidence back, and that should mean she is not fearful of a second meeting in just over a month with World No. 1 and reigning Cincinnati Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, who knocked out Marketa Vondrousova (7-5, 6-1) in the second round on Sunday.

The 27-year-old was making her return from a month off the court, so perhaps it was no real surprise to see her tested in the first set, but the cobwebs were well and truly blown away in the second as she held serve and broke her opponent twice.

After winning the Miami Open in March, Sabalenka is now on a seven-game win streak on hard surfaces, while she also made the final of the Indian Wells Open that same month, meaning it's just one defeat in her last 13.

This will be a seriously tough test of Raducanu's credentials, but while the one-time US Open winner is expected to lose to the six-time Grand Slam champion, she can still make this a competitive contest.

Sabalenka didn't exactly run away with it in their only prior meeting on hard court, at last year's Indian Wells Open, when she won 6-3, 7-5, and in their second head-to-head, at Wimbledon last month, the Belarusian was pushed hard (7-6, 6-4).

The +4.5 game handicap would've been a winner in that match, with a game to spare in SW17, and it's a market I'm looking to for Monday's match, with the belief that the Brit can make things interesting at least.

A 6-4, 6-4 victory for Sabalenka would still be enough to land the above selection, so at just under EVS, I'm happy to back Raducanu on the +4.5 game handicap.

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