The first round of the Australian Open comes to a close on both the men’s and women’s draw in Melbourne on Tuesday with the big names looking to make it through without too much trouble and those not so heralded looking to make a name for themselves.
We’ve already seen a couple of highly ranked seeds disappear after Venus Williams, Jack Sock and John Isner bit the dust across the grounds on Monday but the likes of Rafael Nadal, Grigor Dimitrov and Caroline Wozniacki breezed through. Tuesday will see more huge names grace the courts.
Rod Laver Arena
The former women’s number one Karolina Pliskova is the first into action on the main court. She takes on Veronica Cepede Royg with the improving men’s seed Alexander Zverev following them. He takes on the Italian player Thomas Fabbiano and then the afternoon session is rounded off with number one seed Simona Halep facing Destanee Aiava.
It is Roger Federer who is given the opportunity to open up the evening session. He takes on the former Briton Aljaz Bedene before the crowds get to see a home star in action when Ashleigh Barty goes up against Aryna Sabalenka.
Margaret Court Arena
Caroline Garcia will get proceedings underway on the secondary court. She will face the German challenger Carina Witthoeft before Maria Sharapova returns to Melbourne. She is another who will face a German opponent. Hers is Tatjana Maria. Novak Djovokic will have the attention on him after that when he faces a dangerous challenge of Donald Young.
The night session on Margaret Court sees the Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza beginning her quest for another Grand Slam. She takes on Jessika Ponchet before Juan Martin del Potro faces the dangerous Frances Tiafoe.
Hisense Arena
British number one Jo Konta is first up on Hisense. She faces Madison Brengle in the opening match on the court with an all-German battle between Angelique Kerber and Anna-Lena Friedsam following them. Stan Wawrinka returns to the tour in the following match when he goes up against Ricardas Berankis and then the match of the day comes in the night session when Tomas Berdych faces the rapidly improving Alex de Minaur.
Court 2
There are some massive names on this court on Monday as well. Milos Raonic will lead the day off when he plays Lukas Lacko before Eugenie Bouchard is back on a show court. Her opponent will be Oceane Dodin of France. Petra Kvitova takes on Andrea Petkovic in one of the bigger and better first round matches and then Dominic Thiem gets his campaign underway when he plays Guido Pella of Argentina.
Best of the Rest
Once again it is not a bad day to be a holder of a ground pass as plenty of big names are on show around the grounds. David Goffin and Kristina Mladenovic are among them with the likes of Elena Vesnina, Fabio Fognini, Madison Keys and Mischa Zverev all taking to the various courts in the Australian city.
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Men’s Betting
I like two bets in the men’s draw on Tuesday. I’m expecting plenty of games with the serve dominating in the match between Sam Querrey and Feliciano Lopez. Breaks of serve are going to be few and far between here and both still have enough in their tanks to go to a fourth set if not a fifth. Over 40.5 games looks an obvious pick.
Alex de Minaur has made plenty of people stand up and take notice in the last couple of weeks and Tomas Berdych could be the last one to be seriously tested by him. Berdych has a good record here though so I don’t expect him to back down at any point so we could be in for a cracking match under the lights. This one looks to have four sets if not five in it and if it does 37.5 games should be safely covered.
Women’s Betting
There is only one bet I like in the women’s draw and that comes in the form of the talented Kiki Mladenovic who faces Ana Bogdan. Mladenovic retired in Sydney in her last tournament which probably explains why we are getting 5/6 on her in this match. Bogdan is outside the top 100 in the world so the French woman may not even need to be 100% to win this. As long as she is fit, and I don’t think she would risk it at this stage of the year if she wasn’t, then I expect Mladenovic to come through here.
Tips
Back S.Querrey vs F.Lopez – Over 40.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back it here:
Back T.Berdych vs A.de Minaur – Over 37.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfred
Back it here:
Back K.Mladenovic to beat A.Bogdan for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Boylesports
Back her here:
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