Apologies for a disappointing start to the week’s tennis selections and nothing at all went my way with Simon and Medvedev disappointing against opponents they had beaten comfortably in the past, De Minaur would never have been a bet at the price and veterans and tournament selections Muller and Baghdatis both under-performed against Millman and qualifier Kavcic respectively. Thankfully, Copil (advised 22/1) won his opener at Antalya and Mischa Zverev (advised 25/1) won his opener at Eastbourne.

There were no major upsets at Eastbourne and Antalya this week and all the seeded players in action on Monday and Tuesday won. The second round gets underway at both tournaments today and some of the top four seeds are in action today as well. At Eastbourne the match of the day is of course an all British affair between second seed Edmunds and Wild Card Murray. Murray leads the head-to-head 2-0 and after impressing against Kyrgios last week and beating Wawrinka in straight sets this week, Murray has firmed up as the clear favourite to win today.

Top seed Schwartzman who is playing for the first time since the French Open, opens his campaign against ATP journeyman Lacko, third seed and NextGen star Shapovalov opens his campaign against the talented NextGen star Donaldson from America. Fourth seed Cecchinato faces a tough task in his opener against the experienced veteran Istomin who excels on quicker surfaces like grass. Fifth seed Mayer from Argentina who has been in good form on grass faces another tough test against Millman from Australia who impressed beating veteran Muller in the first round.

Sixth seed and veteran Ferrer faces Kukushkin for a place in the quarter finals today and the Spaniard will be quietly confident of success as he leads the head-to-head 7-1, but Kukushkin did win their most recent match at the US Open last year in four sets. Seventh seed Johnson faces Zverev (advised 25/1) and Zverev leads the head-to-head 1-0.

Over at Antalya top-seed Mannarino (advised 7/1) opens his campaign against Berankis and the Frenchman leads the head-to-head 4-3 and won their last two matches this year in straight sets. Second seed Dzhumur opens his campaign against Copil (advised 22/1), Dzhumur leads the head-to-head 2-0 and his wins came indoors at Rotterdam this year in straight sets and in three sets at Budapest on clay back in 2016. Third seed Verdasco is out as he lost against the unseeded Vesely yesterday, fourth seed Monfils faces qualifier Kavcic today and the Frenchman is the hot favourite to progress but could be worth opposing as he’s not played competitively since the French Open, he will struggle in the extreme heat and Kavcic has the advantage of winning three matches on the surface already.

Fifth seed Haase faces fellow veteran Garcia-Lopez and the Spaniard leads the head-to-head 1-0, sixth seed Sousa faces the unseeded Basic and the Portuguese number one leads the head-to-head 1-0 and seventh seed Sugita faces Herbert and the head-to-head stands at 1-1. Eighth seed Lajovic lost his opener against Basilashvili who extended the head-to-head winning record to 3-0.

Selections:

Eastbourne

Double (2.97)

Murray to beat Edmunds

Istomin to beat Cecchinato 2-0 sets

Antalya

Double (3.56)

Sugita vs. Herbert Over 23.5 Games

Garcia-Lopez vs. Haase Over 22.5 Games