The second round of the Australian Open concludes on Thursday out in Melbourne as far as the singles draws are concerned at least on what is likely to be another dramatic day of action in the opening Grand Slam of 2018.
There was plenty of drama on Wednesday with Grigor Dimitrov and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga both taken the distance while Caroline Wozniacki had to perform a miracle escape to make it into the next round. Novak Djokoivic, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep are just some of the great players on show on Thursday.
Rod Laver Arena
We get going with the rematch from the US Open as Maria Sharapova takes on Anastasija Sevastova before the Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza faces Su-Wei Hsieh. The day session is rounded off with a really good looking match between Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils who are meeting much earlier than they should be due to their injuries last year. That could be a cracker if both are in form.
Australian ace Ashleigh Barty has the honour of opening up the night session. She goes up against the feisty Italian player Camila Giorgi and then Roger Federer will continue his title defence when he goes up against Jan-Lennard Struff to round off an interesting day on the main court.
Margaret Court Arena
Dominic Thiem will be first on show on the second court. He goes up against Denis Kudla and then comes one of the matches of the day when Angelique Kerber faces Donna Vekic. The day session ends with the US Open finalist Madison Keys going up against Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Number one seed Simona Halep will get the night session underway when she goes up against the talented but fading force of Eugenie Bouchard while Stan Wawrinka will round things off when he plays Tennys Sandgren.
Hisense Arena
Caroline Garcia will be first onto the Hisense Arena. She will look to continue her good recent form when she faces the Czech talent Marketa Vondrousova. Karolina Pliskova will follow them on this court. She will play the Brazilian woman Beatriz Haddad Maia and then comes Juan Martin del Potro while will take on the talented Russian player Karen Khachanov. The final match on this court sees Alexander Zverev taking on his countryman Peter Gojowczyk.
Court 2
The eyes of Britain will be on this court first up when Johanna Konta faces Bernarda Pera of America. They will be followed by Tomas Berdych who is up against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. A good looking match between David Goffin and Julien Benneteau comes after that and then the action finishes with a doubles match that sees Lleyton Hewitt back in action.
Best of the Rest
Plenty of other big names are in singles action around the ground dotted in among a load of doubles matches. Sam Querrey, Lucie Safarova, Richard Gasquet, Fabio Fognini and Elena Vesnina are just some of the seeds doing battle away from the big crowds and high profile.
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Men’s Betting
There is only one match in the men’s draw which takes my fancy over the course of Thursday and it comes in the match between David Goffin and Julien Benneteau. I expect the Belgian to come through this match but we have seen enough from Benneteau in his career to suggest he can win a set before the game is done. Benneteau ended last season in decent enough form and while Goffis probably playing his best tennis at the minute he still has a number of flat spots which the Frenchman can take advantage of. At 6/4 I think over 3.5 sets looks a good thing.
Women’s Betting
I’m going with two in the women’s draw on Thursday. First up on Rod Lever Arena we should get a cracking match as Maria Sharapova and Anastasija Sevastova meet for the second Grand Slam in a row. The Latvian won in three sets in New York last year while Sharapova won a three setter between the two since then. These two clearly bring the best out of each other and I expect that to happen again. If it does this will sail beyond 21.5 games.
Angelique Kerber is back in good form after a mysterious 2017 where nothing went right for her but she faces a tough test against Donna Vekic in a match which I also expect to have plenty of mileage in it. We saw at Wimbledon that Vekic doesn’t fear anyone and the big stage should bring the best out of her once again. Kerber looks in decent nick too so this might need more than 19.5 frames before it is resolved.
Tips
WON – Back D.Goffin vs J.Benneteau – Over 3.5 sets for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Paddy Power
Back it here:
Back M.Sharapova vs A.Sevastova – Over 21.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
Back it here:
Back A.Kerber vs D.Vekic – Over 19.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfred
Back it here:
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