Young – Ward

American Donald Young will take on local hope James Ward in the first round at Eastbourne.

Young (69 ATP) is not exactly a grass court player, having a 4-11 win-loss record on ATP level on this surface. His style of play is more suited to slow hard courts, and this will be his first match on the green this year. Young had a decent season, pretty good tennis and results for his standards, defeating a couple of top 30 players and reaching the 2nd or the 3rd round at a couple of tournaments. The American is on the back of a good Roland Garros, losing to Garcia Lopez in the 3rd round after previously defeating Feliciano Lopez, though Feliciano was not exactly in the best shape.

Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle.

James Ward (155 ATP) is one of the special players on the tour, he does not have the quality to compete in ATP events for most of the year but on grass he is always there, challenging the top guys. His performances on the green and his heroics in the Davis Cup are well known by the British. He had an OK season, highlighted by the 5 set win against Querrey in the Davis Cup, in USA, on clay. Ward had a good Roland Garros, beating 3 solid players in the qualies before losing a 4 setter to Robredo but he went on to lose 2 of the 3 grass court matches he played. Still, he put on a good performance last week in Queens, losing 5-7 3-6 to a devastating Dimitrov in the 2nd round.

The H2H is 0-0, this will be the first meeting between the two, but even so we can know for sure that Ward holds the matchup advantage on grass. Also, as the two never met before, Young could have some problems in the start with Ward’s specific grass court brand of tennis.

This looks like the kind of game the Englishman will go on to win. He meets a player who is not properly equipped for this surface, who has no matches on it this year, and who just wants to play a little bit of tennis on grass before Wimbledon. For Ward, Eastbourne is one of the top 3 tournaments on the tour along with Queens and Wimbledon, he`s super motivated and he always increases his level on the green, in front of his own fans. Also, James has been knocked out in the first round by Tomic last year, so he could gain some massive points to allow him to play on ATP-level events in the next months. Expect Ward to come out strong, dominating his service games and trying to make Young uncomfortabe with his grass court expertise. My tip is James Ward to win, and the odds are going down on this bet. Prediction: Donald Young – James Ward 3-6 7-6 3-6.

Pick: Ward
Odds: 2.03 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 8.24
Event date: 17 June