The Houston Clay Court Championships move into the quarterfinals round, which means our tennis picks follow suit as well. We’re coming off a day where we went 2-1 with our tennis picks. Feliciano Lopez cashed in as a winner for us as he took care of Lukas Lacko in straight sets. The same happened with Jack Sock as he made it rather easy on us. He produced a straight sets win over Matthew Barton. Our lone loss was Donald Young’s failure to take care of Tim Smyczek. He lost in straight sets.
On Friday, we’re look at a couple of matches involving Americans to determine whether they will advance or not. Americans don’t normally do well on clay but this is one tournament that bucks the trend. Here are our tennis picks for Friday’s action.
Sam Querrey vs. Juan Monaco
Betting Odds: Monaco -120
Although this is Sam Querrey’s first clay-court tournament of the year, he’s looked right at home. He’s reached the quarterfinals in Houston and has looked fairly strong along the way. He hasn’t had a great season, so this performance in Houston might be a surprise to some. He’ll be taking on Juan Monaco in the quarters, who has been in pretty good form so far this season. He’s already moved up the rankings by 30 spots and could very well end up in the Top 20 by the end of the season if he continues his course. He, too, hasn’t been great on clay this season as he was knocked out in the second round of all four clay-court tournaments he’s played in this year, but one could say that he faced stiff competition in each of those second rounds. At any rate, he seems to be playing really well.
In terms of this particular matchup, Monaco is 3-1 lifetime versus Querrey, which includes wins in both the meetings when they’ve played on clay. He plays well here too as he was won the event in 2012. Monaco is the better defensive player while Querrey is a big server. Typically, this surface isn’t ideal for a guy like him, so go with Monaco in this one. He He’s the better bet and I’m adding him to my tennis picks, expecting him to win in straight sets.
Pick: Monaco
John Isner vs Hyeon Chung
Betting Odds: Isner -350
John Isner has been playing well in Houston but this wouldn’t be the first time he’s done that. He’s actually won the event previously. Next up for him is a quarterfinals matchup with Korean Hyeon Chung, who many feel is a rising prospect in the sport.
Although Isner is an American with a big serve, he is one of the few that does well on clay. As mentioned, he won this event previously (in 2013) and lost in the final in 2012. Americans have made it to the final in 15 of the last 16 years, so we’ll see if he can carry the flag once more.
It hasn’t been a great year for Isner but this is fairly new territory for Chung. He has played in a quarterfinal just twice in his career (including ATP events). He hasn’t really done much to inspire confidence in bettors on grass or clay, and this week’s wins were just the first time that he’s registered back-to-back wins in 2016.
In terms of this matchup in particular, it looks like Isner will be too much to handle for Chung. Chung doesn’t have the experience, he doesn’t have the consistency and he doesn’t have the pedigree. Isner is not exactly in great form but Chung is still learning how to succeed on this surface.
When looking at the betting lines for this matchup, we see that Isner is a sizable favorite in this spot. Anything other than an easy win for him would be quite a surprise. Look for him to roll in straight sets, which means you should take him with your tennis picks in this spot.
Pick: Isner
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