The Australian Open tennis event gets underway on Monday and with the competitiveness of both draws there are some excellent first round matches to enjoy at Melbourne Park in what should be a full day of action.
Some of the biggest names in tennis take centre stage right from the start including both the men’s and the women’s number ones Sir Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber. Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka are also on show on a busy day in Melbourne.
Rod Laver Arena
The action gets underway in the main arena with the women’s fourth seed Simona Halep taking on the hugely competent American Shelby Rogers. Venus Williams follows them when she plays Kateryna Kozlova before Sir Andy Murray faces Illya Marchenko.
The evening session sees the defending champion Angelique Kerber taking on Lesia Tsurenko before Roger Federer returns to big time action when he faces Jurgen Melzer to wrap up the session.
Margaret Court Arena
The French Open champion Garbine Muguruza is first up on this court. She takes on Marina Erakovic before Bernard Tomic will look to thrill the home crowds when he goes up against Thomaz Bellucci. The afternoon session concludes with Coco Vandeweghe facing Roberta Vinci.
Stan Wawrinka headlines the evening session when he faces Martin Klizan before Eugenie Bouchard gets her campaign up and running when she faces Louisa Chirico of the USA.
Hisense Arena
It is Kei Nishikori who is first in the firing line on this court on Monday. He takes on Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia. They are followed by Ashleigh Barty and Annika Beck in the women’s draw before the afternoon concludes with the 8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova taking on Mariana Duque-Marino. The evening match sees Nick Kyrgios getting his tournament underway against Gastao Elias of Portugal.
Best of the Rest
There are some big seeds on the other courts for those who have passes for them. Marin Cilic faces Jerzy Janowicz on court 2 while Carla Suarez Navarro follows them against Jana Cepelova. Elina Svitolina begins her tournament on court 3 against Galina Voskoboeva with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga following them.
Jack Sock, Lucas Pouille, Pablo Cuevas, Daria Kasatkina and John Isner are also on show around the grounds throughout the course of the day.
Betting
I’m going with four bets to get us started in this tournament with two in each draw. On the men’s side I like the look of Bernard Tomic to cover 4.5 games against Thomaz Bellucci. Both have solid serves but I think the return game of Tomic is much superior and I would fancy him for a comfortable win against an opponent who blows too hot and cold for my liking.
Later in the day Steve Johnson takes on Federico Delbonis in a match I fancy could be a bit closer and much lengthier than the games line suggests it could be. We saw in the Davis Cup final that Delbonis is underrated while Johnson has a point to prove and isn’t going to go down lightly here. I fancy four sets in this if not five and that should be enough to cover 37.5 games.
Over with the women the first match of the tournament on Rod Laver may well be closer than the games line suggests. I still expect Simona Halep to win the match but Shelby Rogers can keep her honest and make one set very close if not both of them. That should be enough to see us past 19.5 games in an opener neither would have wanted.
One of the matches of the day is the one between Coco Vandeweghe and Roberta Vinci which takes place on the Margaret Court Arena. I like the American in that. I was watching a match between Karolina Pliskova and Vinci in Brisbane and the Italian couldn’t deal with the power and Vandeweghe brings plenty of that. I fancy she’ll have too much for an aging Vinci.
Tips
WON – Back B.Tomic (-4.5 games) to beat T.Bellucci for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back F.Delbonis vs S.Johnson – Over 37.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
Back it here:
Back S.Halep vs S.Rogers – Over 19.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Titanbet
Back it here:
WON – Back C.Vandeweghe to beat R.Vinci for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bwin
Back her here:
