We don’t often give out parlays, but let’s roll with two of the crowd favorites at the Mubadala Citi DC Open on Thursday. At plus-money odds, you can get Sebastian Korda to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis, and Frances Tiafoe to beat Aleksandar Kovacevic. I like both of them to get the job done, but I don’t want to deal with significant juice to back them. Instead, I’ll bank both players together for a favorable payout.
For Korda, the reasoning is pretty straightforward. He’s coming off an easy straight-set win over Cristian Garin—just an hour and 12 minutes. Meanwhile, Kokkinakis needed two hours and 15 minutes in his three-set win over Max Purcell in the opening round. That was a physical battle between two heavy hitters. Kokkinakis then got involved in another slugfest with Aleksandar Vukic, winning 6-4, 7-6 (4) in an hour and 51 minutes. Fatigue shouldn’t catch up to players too much this early in a tournament, but as usual, it has been hot and humid in D.C. If Kokkinakis is any bit less than 100% health, or lacking in energy, he could suffer.
Korda is also 2-0 against Kokkinakis, and the American hasn’t dropped a set. Both matches were played on hard courts, too. Kokkinakis is obviously a very big server, but he has doesn't do much else at a high level. That is going to make it difficult for him to beat a player with the ball-striking skills of Korda.