Tennis Parlay Ben Shelton + Daniil Medvedev: Montreal

Montreal 🇨🇦

• Jenson Brooksby and Botic Van de Zandschulp have two things in common tonight: a negative record on the season, and a match already played yesterday. On the other hand, two members of the top 10 who each have their name engraved on this trophy.

• Ben Shelton is the defending champion, won last year in Toronto with 6 consecutive wins. He enters the fray after being exempted from the first round, rested since Washington where he only conceded in three sets against Alejandro Tabilo.

• Brooksby is a poison and I don't underestimate him. He's relaunching among the best in the draw and he converted all the break points he had against Adam Walton yesterday. Only his own serve is one of the weakest here, and against a lefty who sends missiles, he'll have to defend each of his service games for two hours.

• The second leg is even more readable. Daniil Medvedev has already crossed paths with Van de Zandschulp 4 times in his career, always on hard courts, and he won the 4 while only dropping one set.

• His record on the surface this season shows 19 wins for 5 losses, when the Dutchman is balanced and just committed 8 double faults to get out of the first round.

• My reservation concerns the Russian: he hasn't played since his elimination from Wimbledon in early July, he took a vacation before resuming training. A comeback is still a comeback, even for a former world number 1.

• But he's finding his favorite surface, in a tournament he's already won, against an opponent he knows by heart and has never lost to. The two favorites go through, and at this price the double deserves the ticket.