tennis | Friday, August 19, 2022 11:48 AM

Friday Tennis Best Bet: ATP Cincinnati, Carlos Alcaraz vs Cameron Norrie

Jon Reid

Carlos Alcaraz vs. Cameron Norrie Best Bet: Friday, August 19th

Well after all the losses from dominant positions, we got one back, as Felix Auger Aliassime came back from a set and break down and then saved match points later in the second set to win in three!

For Friday’s best selection from the men’s draw, it’s a match between phenom Carlos Alcaraz and Cameron Norrie that intrigues.

In this article:

Carlos Alcaraz vs Cameron Norrie Preview
Carlos Alcaraz vs Cameron Norrie Best Bet

Carlos Alcaraz vs Cameron Norrie Preview

August 20th, 1:30 UK Time

In what was his most impressive match of the season on a quicker court, the 19-year-old Alcaraz downright dominant in his victory against a seasoned professional, who’s best results in the past have come in quicker conditions in Marin Cilic.

Even the 7-6 first set scoreline was flattering to the Croatian, as Alcaraz was up a break for the majority of the first set and threatened to break Cilic’s serve on the regular, while the only time his serve was broken was in a game he double faulted in three times when attempting to serve for the set.

Alcaraz wasn’t troubled by the massive groundstrokes and serving prowess of his veteran opponent and his own game played up incredibly well, making it tough to apply pressure in his own service games.

With his opposition this time around also being more of a slow-court player and not possessing the weapons to rush Alcaraz into hitting errors that players typically need to rush him on a quick surface, it’s hard to see the Murcia native not progressing to the semifinals.

Norrie has had a nice run this week, but – along with Wimbledon – it has been an outlier of sorts for a tournament played in quick conditions. In Australia, he was defeated in all three of his ATP Cup matches and was sent packing in the opening round of the year’s first grand slam event. In the long clay event he played in quicker conditions, he was sent packing by Alcaraz in the slight altitude of Madrid and leading into Wimbledon he won just a single match in his two warmup events.

Even in his first two matches in Cincinnati, he didn’t manage to cover the handicaps against Andy Murray and Holger Rune as a favourite. The former was of particular concern, since he matched up well with the veteran Brit. Last round he crushed a young American wild card, who was coming off a long week at the Challenger level and looked to be out of energy.

Carlos Alcaraz vs Cameron Norrie Best Bet

For my money, it just doesn’t appear that Norrie has the requisite game to trouble Alcaraz.

His consistency is his best hope, as Alcaraz can commit errors from time to time. Usually, however, those errors are caused by a big hitting opponent who can rush Alcaraz when hitting his groundstrokes, causing a more erratic game. Norrie simply doesn’t play that game style.

With the form Alcaraz has displayed this week (dominant sets in all but the aforementioned tiebreak, which he really did gift to Cilic), I’m going to back him in a solid stylistic matchup against another player who isn’t exactly at home in these conditions.