Valentin Vacherot vs Frances Tiafoe Expert Tips and Best Bets | September 4

The US Open is already into its third round, and Friday’s slate of games will offer players the opportunity to secure a spot in the Round of 16. This is the first round in which seeds match up against one another, so we’re going to start seeing some juicy match-ups between talented players on both sides of the draw. Our best bets of the day include one of those, with the ever-improving Vacherot taking on American Tiafoe, while the in-form Marta Kostyuk takes on fellow seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. Those make up two of our best bets of the day while elsewhere we look at Stefanos Tsitsipas’ match-up, so take a look at our bets for those games and the reasoning behind them below.

Valentin Vacherot vs Frances Tiafoe: Vacherot to win | $2.76 with Betista

At close to $3 with most betting sites, these are some very juicy odds and ones that undersell the dramatic improvement of Valentin Vacherot over the last year. His Grand Slam results don’t exactly jump off the page – in fact prior to this year, the 27-year-old had only advanced through qualifying once, and lost in the first round on that occasion. This year, he’s made it through to the third round at the Australian Open and second round at Roland Garros, but even that doesn’t quite highlight his improvement. Vacherot has risen to a top-20 player in the world and has shown his ability to match it with the best, having beaten Novak Djokovic last year and then knocking off three top-10 players this year in Alexander Bublik, Lorenzo Musetti and Alex De Minaur. That puts Tiafoe well within his reach. The exciting American has enjoyed really solid runs at his home Slam, making two semis and a quarter-final between 2022 and 2024, but he’s only made it past the fourth round once in his last seven Grand Slam appearances. He deserves to be favourite in this match, but Vacherot has improved dramatically, beaten numerous better players than Tiafoe of late, and is underestimated by these odds.

Marta Kostyuk vs Ekaterina Alexandrova: Kostyuk to win in straight sets | $1.88 with BetandPlay

This should be a good clash between two seeded players, but Alexandrova looks likely to be outmatched against Kostyuk, who is playing comfortably the best tennis of her career of late. Having never advanced past a quarterfinal in a Grand Slam, Kostyuk made the semis at this year’s French Open before backing it up with another final four appearance at Wimbledon, and in the lead-up to the US Open has taken some very impressive scalps – including world number 19 Madison Keys in straight sets and world number 5 Mirra Andreeva just a couple of weeks ago. Alexandrova is a good player but is a perennial third or fourth round loser in Grand Slams – essentially, she’s consistently able to get past the lower ranked players but struggles once she comes up against the better players in the world. Kostyuk is exactly that at the minute – she is racing towards the top ten at a rapid pace, and with her current form should be able to overpower Alexandrova and win this in straight sets.

Jiri Lehecka vs Stefanos Tsitsipas: Lehecki to win | $1.52 with Zoccer

Three or four years ago this would have been a major mismatch in Tsitsipas’ favour, but now the roughly $1.50 available on the betting apps for Lehecka to win looks like value. The 24-year-old Czech Lehecka has gradually worked his way up the rankings and is seeded 18th at this event, having made the quarters here last year and a fourth round at the most recent Grand Slam at Wimbledon. Tsitsipas’ results, in contrast, have been incredibly disappointing for some time now. Having made it to the final four six times and the final twice of a Grand Slam between 2019 and 2023, but never going all the way, the Greek has endured a torrid run for over two years now. Incredibly, this is the first time he has made it past the second round of a major since 2024, having been eliminated in the first or second round nine consecutive times. He is a shadow of his former self, and while he’s enjoyed a couple of solid performances so far this tournament, it’s still hard to have much faith after such a poor few years.