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Mixed martial arts Thursday Tennis Best Bet: ATP Miami, Adrian Mannarino vs Juncheng Shang
Adrian Mannarino vs Juncheng Shang Best Bet: Thursday, March 23rd
It might be time to start believing in curses. Finally, a match is going swimmingly….and Arthur Rinderknech retires prior to the completion of the first set, so the Daniel to win bet voids instead of grading out as a win. I joke, of course, but these close losses and voided leads are certainly adding up.
For Thursday, it’s another men’s first-round match to preview, with Adrian Mannarino taking on Juncheng Shang.
In this article:
Adrian Mannarino vs Juncheng Shang Preview
March 23rd, 16:30 (UK Time)
What a contrast we have on our hands in this first-rounder, as the young, up-and-coming Shang takes on the more veteran Mannarino.
It’s not just age that differentiates these two either. The veteran from France is without a clothing sponsor and a tour journeyman, while the young gun from China is part of the prestigious IMG group.
Even on the court, the styles are totally different. Shang is adding pace and aggression to his game, but played a very consistent style with topspin as the foundation of his game. Mannarino also plays a solid game from the baseline but hits a much flatter ball.
With these courts also on the slower end of the spectrum – though not as slow as the prior event at Indian Wells – and not exactly forgiving for flatter hitters, the price on Shang immediately catches my eye.
As a kid who doesn’t commit too many unforced errors, has a decent first serve and can match Mannarino’s consistency and lefty game from the baseline, I can’t see why Shang is priced so cheaply.
Adrian Mannarino vs Juncheng Shang Best Bet
Form-wise, there is also very little to like about Mannarino’s play recently from two different perspectives. The first is the fact that he just hasn’t won much. He lost his first match in Monterrey at a Challenger event (one he’d won a few years back) to Aleksandar Kovacevic. He then proceeded to lose his first match in Acapulco on slow courts as well to Elias Ymer. Finally, at Indian Wells, he did win a pair of matches, but those were against a slumping Lorenzo Musetti and a Dominic Thiem that is a shell of his former self – the latter saw him come back from a set and break down to boot.
The other aspect to his poor form is the fact that he’s constantly overvalued by the market. Despite losing to a poor Ymer, he was a strong favourite. The same goes for his loss in Mexico to Kovacevic, where the altitude was always going to favour the bigger serving, bigger hitting American.
Now still on a relatively slow court (I had the chance to watch Marton Fucsovics and Pedro Cachin play on this same court, also second on for the day on Wednesday), against a young gun that is potentially undervalued by the market and more comfortable in these conditions, I’ll happily take a 3.00 price for him to pull off the upset.
- Selection: Shang to win
- Best Odds: 3.00 (Bet365)
- Stakes: 4/10
Odds as at 1:30 am on March 22nd, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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