Andy Schooler landed 2.8 and 3.0 winners in Cincinnati in his last ATP tennis preview. Now he’s focusing on the first-round matches in Winston-Salem.
Kamil Majchrzak v Benjamin Bonzi
Last time out, this column produced two winners from three bets as the underdogs did the business in Cincinnati.
Now, I expect you’re hoping for – maybe even expecting – a repeat so it’s time to get my excuses in early. I call them reasons.
A series of withdrawals, a Sunday start and having to write this before the qualifiers were placed in the draw, all mean that I’m down to just a handful of round-one matches to consider for this regular Monday piece.
Of those that are on the coupon, this is the one I’m backing the underdog in.
Bonzi is a former quarter-finalist here in Winston-Salem but, like many of the players I’m writing about this week, he’s struggled in recent times.
That said, there have been signs that a corner is about to be turned.
The Frenchman took Yannick Hanfmann to a third set in Montreal, while the defeat in Cincinnati to Dusan Lajovic came in a final-set tie-break.
Majchrzak is also out of sorts. Since his title triumph in Den Bosch during the grasscourt season, the Pole has won just two of his seven matches.
They’ve split previous meetings, one apiece, although it’s Bonzi who won the only previous hardcourt clash.
While not totally convinced, I believe he’s the value here at 2.2.
Lorenzo Sonego v Vit Kopriva
I’ve put up Kopriva on these pages this season but only when he’s played on clay.
On hardcourts, the Czech is just 3-4 at tour level in 2026 with two of those three wins coming against players outside the top 100.
Overall, Kopriva has lost seven of his last nine matches with no win against a top-150 player in that run. Last week he lost to the world number 175, Lloyd Harris, in Cancun.
Sonego is hardly flying right now either, going just 1-2 on the North American hardcourts thus far.
However, he’ll heading here thinking this is an ideal chance for him to get some wins under his belt prior to the US Open.
After all, the Italian was the champion here only two years ago and holds a 7-3 win-loss record at this Wake Forest University venue.
Admittedly, Kopriva won their only previous meeting but, again, that was on clay.
I much prefer Sonego on a faster surface and am happy to add him to the betslip.
Adam Walton v Jesper de Jong
I’ll put Sonego (see above) in a double with Walton.
The Australian goes up against a player in De Jong who has really struggled on hardcourts this year, going just 3-9 on the surface. Filter that down to tour level and that becomes 1-6, the sole victory coming against the world number 281.
Walton, ranked 98, has hardly hit the heights since beating Daniil Medvedev at Roland Garros but there were better signs in Cincinnati last time out with two victories posted, including one over seed Ignacio Buse, before a final-set tie-break defeat in round three.
Like De Jong, Buse is a player who has nearly all his best results on the slower clay and I can see the Dutchman going the same way to the attack-minded Walton.
The Walton-Sonego double pays 2.37 and that will do for me.
ATP Winston Salem: R1 Best Bets
Bonzi to beat Majchrzak @ 2.2 with kwiff
Walton & Sonego both to win @ 2.37 with kwiff
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