ATP Tennis Betting Picks – St. Petersburg Quarterfinals

Just because there are no more Grand Slam tennis events in 2020 doesn’t mean that there aren’t opportunities for tennis betting. The ATP 500 event at St. Petersburg has reached the quarterfinal round. Still left in the tournament are several elite players, including American Reilly Opelka and Croatian Borna Coric. In this round of tennis betting picks, we focus on that quarterfinal clash.

Borna Coric has had an easy road to the St. Petersburg quarterfinals this year. He defeated Feliciano Lopez and Roman Safiullin in his two matches thus far. The second set against Lopez went to a tiebreak, but that has been the extent of Coric’s adversity so far in Russia. Coric has been broken just twice in those two matches, as he gets set to face an opponent in Opelka that is no stranger to matches where breaks of serve are rare.

While he has had success in this tournament so far, Coric isn’t great at indoor hardcourt tennis historically. Since 2019, he has won five matches and lost six, including his wins during this tournament. It should be noted, though, that Coric is defending an appearance in the final at St. Petersburg. Last year, he reached the final of this event an was defeated in straight sets by Daniil Medvedev.

Speaking of Medvedev, it was Reilly Opelka who knocked Medvedev out of this tournament on Thursday. Opelka dropped the first set to Medvedev, but won the final two sets to advance to the quarters. Opelka has dropped the first set in both of his matches in this tournament. His first match against Nino Serdarusic also required the American to come back from a set down, which he did successfully.

Opelka is a healthy 15-6 in indoor hard court matches at the tour level since 2019. While he does not have the final appearance to defend in this tournament that Coric does, Opelka is clearly a threat in this type of hardcourt tournament. With 37 aces through two matches in St. Petersburg, it isn’t hard to see why Opelka is effective on indoor hard courts.

Coric and Opelka have played one match lifetime against one another. That match came in the Cincinnati Masters in 2019. Opelka dropped the first set in that match, but won the final two sets in order to advance. In that match, Opelka fired off 27 aces. If he can serve that effectively against Coric in this match, he has a great chance to move to 2-0 against the Croatian.

While Opelka has had to play more tennis in St. Petersburg so far, he has an undeniable advantage in hardcourt events that are held indoors. Coric may extend Opelka’s streak of matches where he drops the first set to three. But, when all is said and done, Opelka should have the firepower to get himself out of any trouble and move to the semifinal round.