Tennis Betting Tips: Monfils, Bouzas Maneiro & Cirstea star in 5/1 Tuesday treble

After a few days off, I'm back with Tuesday's Tennis Betting Tips, which, unsurprisingly, see us concentrate exclusively on the US Open, which enters its third day of action.

I've got three first-round selections for you, one from the men's singles and a couple from the women's singles, which you can check out below...

Match Betting - Gael Monfils (FRA) to beat Roman Safiullin (Wrl) @ 10/11

After a promising start to the year, it's been a difficult few months for Gael Monfils, who has lost six of his last seven matches, and both in this North American hard-court swing.

The 38-year-old lost 3-6, 1-6 to Yibing Wu in the first round of the Washington Open on July 22 before suffering a 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 defeat to Tomas Barrios Vera in the opening round of the Canadian Open in Toronto five days later. Monfils was the clear favourite in both contests, but failed to prove his superiority in either.

Perhaps he'll find more joy, then, in a match where he and his opponent are considered evenly matched. That's certainly the case at the US Open on Tuesday, as the Frenchman and his first-round challenger, Roman Safiullin, are both 10/11 to taste success in New York.

Like Monfils, Safiullin has endured some difficult periods this year, and arguably, is in worse form than the oldest-ever ATP Tour champion.

The 28-year-old has lost 11 of his last 14 matches, dating back to a Challenger event in Oeiras, Portugal, in mid-April, although he did win his first-round ties at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open before falling to second-round defeats.

Safiullin was straight out of the Winston-Salem Open last week, though, losing to Christopher O'Connell in the opening round, despite being considered the favourite to progress.

The Russian has never faced Monfils before, so there is a sense of the unknown for both players, but it's the Frenchman who I fancy to come out on top on Tuesday.

Monfils is a showman, and in potentially one of his last-ever appearances at Flushing Meadows, he will be desperate to make some more memories, and the conditions certainly suit him better than his opponent.

Match Betting - Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (ESP) to beat Donna Vekic (CRO) @ 8/11

It's been a difficult 2025 for Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic, whose 11-19 record this year contrasts poorly with 2024 (32-20), when she attained a 61.5% win ratio.

The Croatian hasn't achieved back-to-back victories since the Madrid Open, when she beat Hailey Baptiste on April 24 and followed that success up with another over Emma Navarro two days later. Since then, she has played 15 times, losing two-thirds (10) of her matches.

In the first round of the US Open on Tuesday, Vekic will come up against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, who, in contrast to the 29-year-old, is in terrific form.

The Spaniard has won 10 of her last 14 contests, making deep runs at her first two hard-court tournaments of this North American swing, at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open.

In Montreal, she advanced to the quarter-finals, where the eventual champion, Victoria Mboko, defeated her. Meanwhile, in Cincinnati, she was beaten by World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the last 16.

A first-round exit to Kamilla Rakhimova at the Monterrey Open last week was disappointing for the 22-year-old, but she starts her US Open campaign this year in a much better mind frame than Vekic, who has not been to a quarter-final in over a year.

The more experienced Vekic triumphed in their only previous meeting, in the qualifying rounds of the Tenerife Open in October 2021, but that 6-0, 6-2 win was over a newbie teenager ranked 360th, while Bouzas Maneiro heads into this match-up ranked 40th, nine places higher than the Croatian.

If Vekic is at her best, she can make this an interesting contest, but given the ease with which Bouzas Maneiro has beaten her opponents this month - all three of her wins in Cincinnati were in straight sets - and how hard she pushed Sabalenka in the second set of her 1-6, 5-7 defeat to the Belarusian 13 days ago (August 13) - it's difficult to see past the Spaniard winning this match.

Set Betting - Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 2-0 vs Solana Sierra (ARG) @ 9/10

Like Bouzas Maneiro, Sorana Cirstea has enjoyed this North American hard-court swing so far, despite getting off to a losing start to Lulu Sun at the Canadian Open.

After that opening-round defeat in Montreal, the Romanian headed to Cincinnati, where she reached the last 16 before succumbing to the eventual champion, Iga Swiatek. Cirstea managed to win seven games in a 4-6, 3-6 defeat, however.

Then, after winning two qualifiers, the 35-year-old reached the final of the Cleveland Open, where she beat Ann Li 6-2, 6-4 to claim her third career title and first on hard courts since 2008.

Cirstea is now back in the top 100 and making her first appearance at the US Open since 2023, when she reached the quarter-finals.

Her opponent in New York, Solana Sierra, impressed at Wimbledon this year after being handed a lucky loser berth in the main draw, making it to the last 16 in SW17, but she has not pulled up any trees on the hard courts since.

The Argentine lost in her second Cincinnati Open qualifier, and after again being handed a lucky loser spot in the main draw, lost to 17-year-old Iva Jovic in the first round. She beat British No. 2 Sonay Kartal in her first match in Cleveland, but subsequently exited the tournament in the second round to World No. 91 Elsa Jacquemot.

Sierra, who is much more adept on clay, only made her US Open debut last year, losing to Tatjana Maria in the first round, and is considered the underdog in Tuesday's match against Cirstea, who has won 10 of her last 11 matches.

Given the momentum she has built up in the country this month, it's hard to back against the Romanian coming out on top here, and I fancy her to beat the 21-year-old in straight sets, having won her last seven contests that way.

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