We move into the second week of the Australian Open on Monday and the fourth round of the singles events come to an end with some really juicy looking matches on another potentially dramatic day of tennis in Melbourne.
Dramatic wasn’t the word for Sunday. Both world number ones were fired out of the tournament while Roger Federer overcame Kei Nishikori in a five set cracker which has opened up both draws going into an intriguing final week.
Rod Laver Arena
The woman who is best placed to take advantage of Angelique Kerber’s exit is Serena Williams and she gets the play underway on Laver when she takes on Barbora Strycova before the men’s clash between Dominic Thiem and David Goffin. A doubles match brings the day session to a close.
The night session gets going with Karolina Pliskova taking on Davia Gavrilova and then the final match of the day should be full of entertainment as Gael Monfils plays Rafael Nadal.
Margaret Court Arena
After a doubles match to get things started on this court all eyes will be on the last remaining Briton in the singles as Johanna Konta takes on Ekaterina Makarova. They are followed by Jennifer Brady and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni with those two having a great chance of making the last eight. Grigor Dimitrov goes up against the giant killer Denis Istomin to round off things on this court.
Hisense Arena
There is only one singles match on this court and it comes in the night session. Roberto Bautista Agut takes on Milos Raonic with both having seen Novak Djokovic go out of their half of the draw and each will want to take advantage of that.
Betting
There are two bets for me on Sunday. Both come on Rod Laver Arena so they will be on our screens throughout the course of the day.
The first one sees Dominic Thiem up against David Goffin and I like the Austrian there. To be fair to David Goffin he is a very underrated player but I like Thiem. He had a great year last year and he should be ready to kick on this year. For all his talent Goffin has only been past this stage once in a Grand Slam which suggests he gets to a certain level and then gets found out.
Dominic Thiem has only been past this round in a Grand Slam once but he hasn’t been on tour as long and the experience he picked up at the World Tour Finals should stand him in good stead. Thiem carries more power to his game and that can see him through.
Speaking of power Karolina Pliskova has it is spades and I think she will be too powerful for Daria Gavrilova. The Australian has been taken the distance in all three of her matches to date and I don’t see that helping her chances. Pliskova went three in the last round but she ran into an insane performance there.
Pliskova holds a 2-0 win over Gavrilova in their head to head records with both being in straight sets. Indeed Gavrilova hasn’t taken more than three games off the Czech in any set thus far. I don’t see her getting any closer here either. Pliskova is too powerful and Gavrilova’s serve is too attackable.
Tips
Back D.Thiem to beat D.Goffin for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back K.Pliskova (-4.5 games) to beat D.Gavrilova for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Ladbrokes
Back her here:
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