The quarter finals of the Australian Open begin in Melbourne on Tuesday. From here on in we are on the Rod Laver Arena for the rest of the tournament so with that in mind the competition ratchets up a notch or two now with the glory in sight for everyone who remains in the tournament.
We’ve had plenty of shocks and surprises in the competition to date and we lost another superstar on Monday when Novak Djokovic was dumped out in straight sets. The likes of Roger Federer, Simona Halep and Tomas Berdych eased through though.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Elise Mertens vs Elina Svitolina
The opening singles match of the day follows a doubles match and it sees one of the surprise packages of the event in Elise Mertens taking on a player who is very much one of the favourites in Elina Svitolina.
Both these ladies have played well so far in the tournament but that probably suits Svitolina more. She may lack a little pep on her serve in the really big matches against the really powerful women but I would imagine she will be fine here. I would expect Svitolina to come through here but at this stage of a tournament Mertens’ form should be respected enough not to chase handicaps.
Grigor Dimitrov vs Kyle Edmund
The first men’s match of the day sees Grigor Dimitrov taking on Kyle Edmund for a place in the semi-final of the competition. Dimitrov goes in search of a second successive last four spot in Melbourne while Edmund is at this stage of a Grand Slam for the first time.
Edmund has been very good in this tournament and his heavy hitting game has served him very well and I expect him to put up a decent showing here but whether he has enough to see off a classy Dimitrov I’m not sure. If there is an issue with Dimitrov then it has to be that he rarely wins matches as easily as he should do and that will give the Briton a chance.
I would be surprised if this is won in straight sets so that leads me to think that over 37.5 games is the way to play this match. If Dimitrov needs three tiebreaks like against Kyrgios in the previous round that will do us but any combination of set scores in four sets should cover that given how well both serve.
Rafael Nadal vs Marin Cilic
The opening match of the night session sees two gladiators in action when the former winner and beaten finalist last year Rafael Nadal takes on a Marin Cilic who loves nothing more than downing the big names on the biggest of stages.
Nadal goes into this match off the back of a mini-epic against Diego Schwartzman and it will be interesting to see how he backs up from that having been out of the game for a little while. Cilic was impressive against Carreno Busta after he dropped the first set and if Nadal is sluggish the Croatian would have ever chance.
There is something in the back of my mind that is telling over 36.5 games is a good bet here but there is something on the other side holding me back from that and without full confidence I don’t bet so I’ll leave this match alone.
Carla Suarez Navarro vs Caroline Wozniacki
The final match of the day sees the classy Carla Suarez Navarro taking on the extremely talented Caroline Wozniacki for a place in the semi-final. Wozniacki leads the head to head between the two 5-2.
I think she will add to that record here too but she might not have this all her own way. Suarez Navarro has enough on her groundstrokes to keep Wozniacki honest. We’ve already seen a clean hitter take Wozniacki the distance in this tournament and with three of their last four meetings having gone to a third set I think this one will too. With that in mind over 19.5 games looks an obvious bet.
Tips
WON – Back G.Dimitrov vs K.Edmund – Over 37.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfred
Back it here:
WON – Back C.Suarez Navarro vs C.Wozniacki – Over 19.5 games at 1.91 with Bwin
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018
