A free play for today can be found below.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Plays are made on a 0.5-5 unit scale based on value at the price available.
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Hijikata vs Banes (Approx 12:30pm AEDST)
I think this match will boil down to how well Hijikata will be able to target the backhand of Banes. The 18 year old played some solid tennis at ITF level over in the US, and this time a year ago was able to beat Andrew Harris in 5 sets and push James Duckworth to 4 sets in this very playoff.
In my opinion Banes has been below his best for the latter part of this year, and looks to be a touch vulnerable here as a seeded player. His form through recent Australian ITFs and Challengers hasn’t been strong, with some of his wins against lower-ranked players becoming quite a struggle and involving a number of tiebreaks. I like Hijikata’s game to cause Banes a lot of trouble over the 5 set format, and as a slight underdog I am happy to take him for a 2 unit selection.