Bet Tennis: First Round Singles Picks from the Delray Beach Open and the Philadelphia connection to Frances Tiafoe
First Round matches at the Delray Beach Open get started today, culminating tomorrow night when top-seeded Australian Bad Boy, ultra-talented Nick Kyrgios fires against American Tommy Paul under the lights. For those who haven’t seen Paul play, you’ll want to watch this one, as he can hold his own against anyone in the world. Matches today include American Ryan Harrison against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, France's Adrian Mannarino against South Korean Kwon Soon-woo, and the match that I’m looking forward to: tonight’s battle between Ecuador’s Emilio Gomez and American Frances “Big Foe” Tiafoe.
Tomorrow, Japan’s Yoshi Nishioka and Aussie John Millman tangle, while Canada’s Milos Raonic serves against Italian Andreas Seppi. American 7-footer Reilly Opelka unleashes his angry deliveries against Latvian Ernests Gulbis, followed by Kyrgios-Paul. Other singles and doubles matches fill in the second day of the competition.
Tiafoe, the young gun with the guns is coached by American Brett Waltz, nephew of Philadelphia area tennis legend Paul Waltz, recently named the 2019 Pennsylvania High School Tennis Coach of the Year. Paul has been around Philadelphia tennis for more years than he’d like you to know, and his nephew is helping Tiafoe sharpen his game. Watch this match for more than one reason, and take note of our little local connection.
Below I’ve listed my first round predictions with the understanding that in professional sports anything can happen, and if you bet use your head!
Delray Beach Open
First Round Singles Picks
1. Australian Nick Kyrgios over Tommy Paul, USA
2. Frances Tiafoe, USA, over Emilio Gomez, Ecuadar
3. Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic over Australia’s Jordan Thompson
4. Ugo Humbert, France, over Kyle Emund, GB
5. Taylor Fritz, USA, over Cam Norrie, GB
6. Brandon Nakashima, USA over Jiri Vesely, CZE
7. Noah Rubin, USA over Jung, TPE
8. Yoshihito Nishioka, Japan over John Millman, AUS
9. Kwon Soon-woo, South Korea, over Adrian Mannarino, France
10. Ryan Harrison, USA, over Damir Dzumhur B/H
11. Mackenzie McDonald, USA, over Uchiyama Yasutaka, Japan
12. Reilly Opelka, USA Over Ernests Gulbis, Latvia
.13. Radu Albot, Moldavia, over Jack Sock, USA
14. Henri Laaksonen, SUI, over Stevie Johnson, USA
15. Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Germany, over Bernie Tomic, AUS
16. Milos Raonic, Canada, over Andreas Seppi, ITA