The third round of the Australian Open begins as far as the singles draws are concerned on Friday on what looks like being a high quality day of tennis action in Melbourne as the first Grand Slam of the year heads towards the halfway stage.
The heat has been a big factor in the tournament over the last couple of days and that is set to play a major part on Friday. We lost the likes of Jo Konta, Stan Wawrinka, Garbine Muguruza and David Goffin among others amidst the carnage of Thursday.
Rod Laver Arena
Somewhat surprisingly the opening match on Rod Laver Arena sees Luksika Kumkhum taking on Petra Martic in a low key match for this stage of the tournament. There is nothing low key about the rest of the day session though as Elina Svitolina takes on the youngster Marta Kostyuk before Grigor Dimitrov faces Andrey Rublev.
The evening session is none too shabby either. Australian number one Nick Kyrgios is on the main court for the first time when he goes up against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and they are followed by Caroline Wozniacki who faces the challenge of Kiki Bertens.
Margaret Court Arena
There are three singles matches in the day session on the secondary court and they begin with Denisa Allertova taking on Magda Linette before Pablo Carreno Busta goes up against Gilles Muller. Katerina Bondarenko then faces Magdalena Rybarikova to conclude the day session.
The fans on this court get a real treat to begin the night session when Rafael Nadal is in action first up. He faces Damir Dzumhur in the opening match of the evening before French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko faces Anett Kontaveit.
Hisense Arena
There is a doubles match first up on Hisense which involves the Bryan brothers but then three singles matches follow that. The first of those comes in the women’s draw as Alize Cornet takes on Elise Mertens. Two veterans meet after that when Andreas Seppi faces Ivo Karlovic before the court action is rounded off by Ryan Harrison and Marin Cilic in a good looking match.
Best of the Rest
There are a few singles matches mixed in with the doubles action around the grounds. British eyes will be on Court 2 where Kyle Edmund is in action against Nikoloz Basilashvili. Carlo Suarez Navarro, Diego Schwartzman and Kaia Kanepi are some of the other singles players on show over the course of the day.
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Men’s Betting
I like two bets in the men’s draw on Friday with Gilles Muller favoured to get the better of Pablo Carreno Busta. Muller might not have been at his best in the second round but his big serve should be a massive asset in the heat and humidity on Friday. Carreno Busta is undoubtedly an improved player and his better all-round game will probably serve him well at times in the match but chances on Muller’s serve may come few and far between and if Muller catches hold of the Spaniard’s serve at the right time he can progress here.
Two men who can run all day are Diego Schwartzman and Alexandr Dolgopolov and I expect a lengthy game when they meet on one of the outside courts. There will be breaks of serve in this match but I don’t see it being won in straight sets. I wouldn’t be completely surprised if it isn’t won in four either but however many sets we need I fancy we’ll go beyond 37.5 games before it is done.
Women’s Betting
Elise Mertens produced a miracle comeback to win the first set of her second round match against Daria Gavrilova having been 5-0 down only to win it 7-5 but that showed that she could be vulnerable against an improving Alize Cornet. Cornet has had a couple of decent wins in this tournament and last year she beat a whole host of big players on a hard court. There are only five places between these two in the rankings so even allowing for Mertens’ win earlier in the year Cornet has to be overpriced here. I’ll take the chance she can do what Gavrilova didn’t if she gets ahead.
Tips
Back G.Muller to beat P.Carreno Busta for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Coral
Back him here:
WON – Back D.Schwartzman vs A.Dolgopolov – Over 37.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.87 with BetVictor
Back it here:
Back A.Cornet to beat E.Mertens for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Ladbrokes
Back her here:
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