All eyes are on the South Pacific ahead of the Australian Open next week where players have one last chance to gain some form and confidence heading into the year’s first Grand Slam. Many of the top men in the world will head over to New Zealand this week to compete in the ASB Classic and ATP 250 event in Auckland.
World No. 3 Casper Ruud leads the draw as the No. 1 seed with New Zealand-born Cam Norrie also featuring. The likes is Diego Swartzman, John Isner and Jenson Brooksby will keep Ruud honest and promise to produce an exciting week of tennis prior to the big tournament starting across the ditch on January 16th. We look at all of the betting odds for this event and offer our expert picks for the best bets to make at bookmaker William Hill.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 8th, 6:00 P.M. (GMT)
Despite being a whole 11 places ahead of Cam Norrie in the world rankings, Casper Ruud holds only a slim lead over the British player in the betting odds this week. Ruud is on 4.00 to win in Auckland, while Cam Norrie sits at 4.75. These two are the clear favourites with the third most likely winner being John Isner, way back on odds of 10.00.
Casper Ruud will be eager to reclaim the sort of form that saw him contest the US Open final in 2022 and have a chance at becoming World No. 1. Ultimately, Ruud lost that match and since then has been in a slight slump. The Norwegian did finish the year strong, making the final of the Nitto ATP Finals before losing to Novak Djokovic. If he is to repeat his breakthrough season of 2022, Ruud will be wanting to claim this tournament where he’s the top seed and betting favorite.
Cam Norrie will have something to say about Ruud winning however and is likely to be the crowd favourite here. Norrie was born in Auckland and emigrated to the United Kingdom as a child. Chances are he’ll have plenty of fans in the crowd and will be looking to at a minimum repeat his efforts of 2019 that saw Norrie make the final of the ASB Classic in Auckland. Norrie benefits from Holger Rune’s late withdrawal with the World No. 11 citing a back injury. This elevates Norrie into the No. 2 seed position and puts him on the opposite side of the draw to Casper Ruud.
Another player to watch is John Isner. The veteran American won this tournament in 2010 and is a potential quarterfinal opposition for Casper Ruud as the No. 6 seed. A potential great bet to make is for a winner to come from this quarter, meaning that if Isner upsets Ruud, there’s still a great chance of cashing with odds of 2.62.
