Moselle Open tips: Karen Khachanov can go all the way on Metz
Karen Khachanov forehand
Tennis tipster Derek Bilton is hunting for some value in the low key ATP events this week.
He’s so good I’ve heard Spider-Man now has a pair of Novak Djokovic pyjamas. The Serb claimed a record-extending seventh Paris Masters trophy after beating Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday.
The 36-year-old had to show some real cojones in Paris, particularly in the semis when he won a thriller against Andrey Rublev.
Rublev went toe-to-toe with Djokovic for three hours on Saturday evening but the Serb played the big points better to somehow sneak over the line.
He shows no signs of slowing down and has been magnificent since losing that Wimbledon final in July, so will head to the ATP finals in Turin next week on an 18-match winning run.
There are no prices up yet for the ATP finals but yer man is a piping hot 6/5 favourite with Planet Sport Bet to win the Australian Open in January of next year.
There are a couple of low key ATP events this week in Metz and Sofia, and in the former Karen Khachanov looks a decent price at 9/4 to win the Moselle Open.
He faces compatriot Alexander Shevchenko in the quarter-finals on Thursday and should be plenty good enough to come through that.
Shevchenko has an ultra-aggressive style but also a short fuse and if his first serve isn’t firing, in what are described as pretty slow conditions for Metz, then he could soon get frustrated.
Khachanov himself has always been a bit of an enigma.
Supremely talented and earmarked for early success, the powerfully built Russian (now living out of Dubai) often found new and inventive ways to self-destruct on the court like his hero Marat Safin.
At the age of 27 it can’t have been easy for him playing in an era where Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were regularly hoovering up most of the silverware, and he will be more aware than most that when it comes to the ATP Tour, sometimes you are the statue; but mostly you are the pigeon.
He actually won three titles (all indoors) in 2018 but disappointingly never really kicked on after that.
However, he has enjoyed a decent few months recently, and won in Zhuhai in September.
On this type of track – indoor hardcourts - he likes to unleash flat missiles with his forehand and although he is a meat and potatoes kind of player, he should be too sharp for Shevchenko.
Ugo Humbert is the 7/4 tournament jolly and while he will be well supported on home soil, Khachanov wouldn’t be fazed if they meet in the final as he holds a positive 1-0 head-to-head record against the left-hander form Metz.
This is not the type of price to unload the Christmas money on as it is so hard to gauge player motivation at this time of year (just look how Carlos Alcaraz’s level has fallen away in recent months), but Khachanov looks solid at 9/4 and I’ll have a little peanut play on the Russian at said odds.
