It might feel like the US Open marks the end of tennis season, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. We still have a few 1000-level events left — plus the ATP and WTA Finals — and some of them are taking place right now. The men are currently in Shanghai for the Rolex Shanghai Masters at Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena. Meanwhile, the women are in Wuhan for a 1000 of their own: the Wuhan Open. With that in mind, keep reading for some tennis best bets, focusing on the action on Monday, October 6 and Tuesday, October 7.
NOTE: Gill Alexander, host of A Numbers Game, posts a bunch of tennis plays to the VSiN picks page. He does a great job handicapping tennis. That page is also where I post all of my Challenger-level picks + plays for all of the tournaments I’m not writing up daily.
Emiliana Arango vs. Liudmila Samsonova
Donna Vekic vs. Belinda Bencic
Samsonova and Bencic stood out as likely winners when looking at the October 6/7 tennis slate, but both of them are massive favorites in their Wuhan matchups. That said, I decided to throw them into a two-leg parlay at reasonable odds.
Arango is a player I have backed a few times this season. She’s a relentless baseline grinder, chasing down everything and doing her best to extend rallies. She’s also a good returner. On the right day, that makes the Colombian tough to defeat. However, Arango lacks the type of power she needs to finish points against very good power players. We saw it when she got romped by Qinwen Zheng two weeks ago. I see this one against Samsonova being pretty similar.
With Bencic, this is a player with a winning percentage of 65.1% in 2025 going up against one with a winning percentage of 36.4%. Of course, Vekic is a little better than her 12-21 record suggests, as she’s a former world No. 17 that was a force on tour as recently as last year. But she hasn’t been the same player this year, and she hasn’t played particularly well this summer. And Bencic is 4-1 in this head-to-head series, winning all four of those matches in straight sets. The most recent battle between them was in 2022, but there should still be a small mental edge. That, combined with the edge in recent form, should allow her to win as nearly a -300 favorite.
PARLAY: Samsonova ML & Bencic ML (-135 – 1.5 units)
Yulia Putintseva vs. Linda Noskova
Putintseva’s 2025 season has been a nightmare, so it might seem like backing Noskova is an easy call. However, the 30-year-old is a former world No. 20 that is starting to find her game. Putintseva went to Suzhou to find some confidence last week, and she was clearly happy with how that went. After wins over Diane Parry and Dalma Galfi, Putintseva pulled out to get ready for this tournament. Well, in qualifying, Putintseva beat Parry again, doing it 6-1, 6-0 this time after needing three sets last time. After that, she beat Anna Blinkova 6-1, 6-1.
With Putintseva starting to look like herself again, I like the idea of grabbing her at plus-money odds against Noskova. I’m extremely high on Noskova’s game, and I have said before that she should win at least one Grand Slam in her career. However, she just played six matches in a run to the final in Beijing, and there’s a physical and emotional toll that comes with that. She should be vulnerable early on in this tournament.
Bet: Putintseva ML (+135)
Jaume Munar vs. Novak Djokovic
Once Jannik Sinner retired from his match against Tallon Griekspoor, everybody started talking about the possibility of Djokovic winning this event. The draw has definitely opened up for the 24-time Grand Slam champion, and a good argument can be made that he’s the most dangerous player left. However, it should be noted that the 38-year-old was vomiting on the court in his three-set win over Yannick Hanfmann in the Round of 32, and I can’t say his level through two matches has been all that impressive. With that in mind, I’m not sure we’ll even see him cruise against Munar.
Munar is playing some great hard-court tennis this year, coming into this one with a 10-6 record since the start of the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Munar also earned an impressive 7-5, 6-1 win over Flavio Cobolli in the Round of 64. Overall, Munar is 19-14 on hard courts over the last 52 weeks, which shows how far he has come on this surface considering his 39-65 career ATP-level record on it.
Munar is going to make this a very physical match. He’s a fighter along the baseline and he’s smart enough to go out there and test Djokovic’s fitness. But Munar now has the weapons he needs to play some offensive tennis in this one. And I’ll also add that the Spaniard has the confidence required to give Djokovic a match. The 28-year-old thinks very highly of himself, and he won’t be going out there expecting to get run over. That confidence should help him quite a bit.
I’m taking a flier on Munar to win a set. I’m also putting the tiniest bit on the moneyline. There isn’t much that would surprise me here, especially given the grueling conditions. I’ll also note that Djokovic has gone from -700 to -450 at DraftKings Sportsbook, despite the fact that 95% of the tickets and handle are on the Serbian. That information is available on our VSiN betting splits page.
Bet: Munar +1.5 Sets (+133) & Munar ML (+400 – 0.25 units)
Added Plays
I usually have A LOT MORE on the Pro Picks page. Those plays count towards my record and have been a big part of my success this season. Make sure you check them out. I’ll probably add a few more over there, so refresh that page throughout the day if you’re looking for action.
