The schedule is a bit different this year as Monday represents Day 2 of the U.S. Open with things kicking off on a Sunday for the first time. DraftKings features their $20 Stars and Stripes Slam contest and a $50k top prize. I'll guide you through some of the matches and my favorite plays for the slate, which starts at 11 a.m. EST.
Check out our full projections on our DFS Optimizer.
Top Tier
Madison Keys ($11,000) over Renata Zarazua
This is a nice ease into the tournament for the Aussie Open champion against Zarazua, a 27-year-old grinder who only has three career grand slam wins. Keys won their lone meeting last year at the French Open 3&2, and clay is Keys' worst surface. This should be a good spot for her to pick up a routine win with less risk for a loss than some of the other $10k+ options.
Flavio Cobolli ($10,600) over Francesco Passaro
This will be just the second grand slam main draw appearance for Passaro, who had to survive a pair of three-setters to get through qualifying. This will be a tough test against Cobolli, who is enjoying a breakthrough year in which he made the quarters of Wimbledon and later nearly beat Ben Shelton in his run to win in Canada early this month.
Middle Tier
Lloyd Harris ($9,100) over Sebastian Baez
Harris is starting to find his form again following injuries as he heads into the only grand slam in which he has a winning record. He had a nice win in qualifying over Daniel Evans and gets a good draw against Sebastian Baez, who is better suited for the clay and is 0-3 in grand slams this year.
Darwin Blanch ($7,500) over Martin Damm
I watched Blanch win the Kalamazoo Boys' 18 National Tournament two weeks ago to earn a wild card into the U.S. Open main draw and was impressed with the 17-year-old's game. He plays similarly to Shelton as a lefty with a big serve and forehand. He beat Borna Coric in Winston-Salem last week and won't be overwhelmed by the occasion, especially against Damm who has mostly played challenger level events this year.
Lower Tier
Daniel Elahi Galan ($6,700) over Raphael Collignon
Galan comes in as a slight underdog which is a bit surprising considering Collignon has only played one grand slam match in his career. Galan is the much more experienced of the two having made the third round here previously and the fourth round of Wimbledon. The lucky loser won a match in Cincinnati before losing in the last round of qualifying. That should free him up in this spot.
Clervie Ngounoue ($4,300) over Anna Kalinskaya
Digging deep for this one but this is a good way to be able to fit some expensive options into your lineup for someone that the oddsmakers are giving a roughly 25 percent chance to win. The 19-year-old American will have the home crowd support and most recently played well in Cincinnati, losing in the second round to Elise Mertens 7-5 in the third. Kalinskaya is 15-19 in her career in grand slams as well.
