ATP Kitzbuhel, Umag, Atlanta Betting Tips: Isner capable of continuing Atlanta domination

Don't read too much into altitude in Kitzbuhel

This week's men's tournaments get going in a few hours time, with Kitzbuhel, already in motion. The tournament in Austria is noted for being played at high altitude, which has led to a slight edge for servers in this tournament, compared to the ATP clay mean, although it's certainly not as big as some tournaments previously played at altitude, such as Bogota and Quito.

Some strong servers such as Philipp Kohlschreiber have done well in this tournament in the past, but there's certainly a mixed bag of dynamics for finalists - I don't think that we can read too much into the conditions when it comes to highlighting or ruling out contenders.

Thiem still not close to previous level

On the subject of contenders, Dominic Thiem heads up the market in his home country following the late withdrawals of Casper Ruud and Matteo Berrettini. The Austrian is likely to go off at around 6.05/1 by the time he plays his opening round match, which looks like a straightforward clash against lucky loser Alexander Shevchenko.

The markets might be pretty heavy on Thiem right now after showing signs of turning around his horror return to tour from long-term injury.

However, he certainly wasn't dominant in his five wins over the last couple of weeks, and is still running around the 100% combined service/return points won percentage. I'm far from convinced about him as the tournament favourite right now, even with a pretty easy bottom quarter.

Bautista-Agut can get revenge for Bastad loss

Roberto Bautista-Agut, who has a nice quarter two, looks more justified as the market favourite in what looks a pretty mediocre-quality field (assuming a decent level of fitness), and while the Exchange market is still forming, the Spaniard should be available at around 8.07/1 based on general market pricing.

Bautista-Agut lost to Thiem several weeks ago in Bastad at a solid pre-match favourite, but the match hinged on break point conversion, and Thiem went 3/5 and Bautista-Agut 2/8 - I think he can get revenge here.

Alcaraz odds-on to take Umag title

The other clay event takes place in Umag, in what should be slower conditions, and there are a slightly higher calibre of clay-courters on display. Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune, Sebastian Baez and Jannik Sinner are the seeds with byes, with Hamburg winner Lorenzo Musetti also in the field as well.

Alcaraz, who lost to Musetti in that final in Germany yesterday, is currently trading at a shade of odds-on 1.9310/11 for the tournament, and based on his clay numbers this year - not far from elite level - you can understand why.

This tournament, in theory at least, should be less competitive from a market leader perspective than Kitzbuhel.

Kyrgios looking to back up Wimbledon display in Atlanta

ATP Atlanta starts tonight as this week's hard court event, with a pretty competitive field as players start to prepare for the upcoming high value tournaments on the surface in the coming couple of months.

After his strong display reaching the Wimbledon final, Nick Kyrgios is the marginal tournament favourite at around 7.06/1, with John Isner, Alex De Minaur, Jenson Brooksby and Reilly Opelka just behind the Australian in the market.

With talented young players Brandon Nakashima and Sebastian Korda also in the draw, this looks like a tournament which is wide open. Opelka's first quarter doesn't look too testing, while Kyrgios and De Minaur could meet in a high-quality all-Australian quarter-final from the second bracket.

This may be a real test for the tournament favourite with both players adept in quicker conditions, which is likely to be found in this event.

Isner with dominant record in Atlanta

In the bottom half of the draw, Nakashima, Korda, Tiafoe, Brooksby and Isner look to be the best-placed to progress. Isner looks like being tough to break in quick conditions - an assertion rubber-stamped by the fact that he's won the tournament six times and reached the final on three other occasions - not bad for an event which has only been run 11 times.

Isner also has a first round bye and what looks to be a straightforward second round clash too - at a general market price at around 7.06/1 currently, he looks like the player to beat here in pacy conditions.