It is nice to get back on track after a shaky start – just ask Celtic, who were one of our winning bets yesterday. Philipp Kohlschreiber was the other, but Paolo Lorenzi and Ajax could not quite do the business.
However, as a Lucky 15 turns four bets into one accumulator, four trebles, six doubles, and four singles, we still got a little bit back.
The Europa League qualifiers take centre stage this evening, and the tennis tournaments move towards the quarter-final stage, and we have picked out four bets for you today.
Here they are:
- Tennis: Sebastian Ofner to beat Renzo Olivo at around 10/11
- Football: Fenerbahce to beat Sturm Graz at around 4/9
- Football: Lech Poznan to beat Utrecht at around 3/4
- Tennis: Juan Martin del Potro to beat Kei Nishikori at around 4/6
Sebastian Ofner to beat Renzo Olivo
Sebastian Ofner is fast becoming the breakthrough star of 2017. He followed up an incredible run to the third round of Wimbledon – as a qualifier – by beating Pablo Cuevas yesterday. We tipped him to win his first match here, which he was on course to do until his opponent retired. I did not quite rate his chances high enough (more fool me) to include him in the Lucky 15 yesterday, but I have no qualms about doing so today. Olivo upset Horacio Zeballos in the first round, but I think the on-form Austrian will have his number later today.
Fenerbahce to beat Sturm Graz
Fenerbahce showed what they were made of in the first leg when they came from behind to beat Sturm Graz 2-1 in Austria. They should have things much more their own way in Turkey, and I cannot see them sitting back and relying on their away goals to put them through, especially since they have a recent Europa League record of nine matches unbeaten. Graz are leaking goals at the moment, so backing more than 2.5 goals is an option, but just in case Fenerbahce take time to find their feet at this early stage of the season, I will stick to the home win option.
Lech Poznan to beat Utrecht
These two sides drew the first leg 0-0, but Utrecht are poor travellers, as a 0-0 draw in Valletta shows. Poznan are three matches into their league campaign and hammered Piast Gliwice 5-1 at the weekend so are the sharper side. The Poles, who beat Norwegian side Haugesand in the second qualifying round, should be too much at home for the Dutch team.
Juan Martin del Potro to beat Kei Nishikori
It is not often that a tournament’s number two side will not be the favourite in a third round match, but that is what we have here. Del Potro continued his impressive return from injury when he swept aside Lukas Lacko 7-5 6-2 in his opening match and with Nishikori himself just coming back from injury himself, del Potro is a favourite worth getting behind. Nishikori had not played since Wimbledon before he saw off Donald Young and will be nowhere near his best. Del Potro also leads the head to head 5-1, including winning their only meeting on a hard court and a clash earlier this year in Rome.