The second round of the Australian Open comes to an end on another frantic day of action at Melbourne Park on Thursday, with some really good matches slated on the schedule with spots in the last 32 up for grabs.
The big hitters continued their serene progress in the bottom half of the draws on Wednesday and so on Thursday it will be the turn of the likes of Novak Djokovic, Simona Halep and Serena Williams to follow suit.
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Rod Laver Arena
Elina Svitolina gets the action underway on the main court on Thursday. She has a tricky little assignment against Viktoria Kuzmova before one of the big match ups of the day as the former champion Stan Wawrinka takes on the resurgent Milos Raonic in a clash which feels far too big for a second round match. World number one and French Open champion Simona Halep goes up against Sofia Kenin to round off what should be a really good day session.
There are two high profile matches in the night session on Thursday. Serena Williams will look to make it into the third round when she takes on Eugenie Bouchard in what should be a good match and then Novak Djokovic faces a very tough test when he takes on the fit again Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the standout match of the fourth day.
Margaret Court Arena
The Brisbane champion Kei Nishikori is first up on the Margaret Court Arena when he faces the big serve of Ivo Karlovic. It is a day of Japanese players on this court with the US Open champion Naomi Osaka up second. She plays Tamara Zidansek for a place in the third round with the day session concluding with a tasty battle between Venus Williams and Alize Cornet.
The night session on this court is very good too and it begins with the ATP Finals winner Alexander Zverev. He takes on the French player Jeremy Chardy before the British number one Jo Konta rounds off the day when she takes on the Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza in the final game on this court.
Melbourne Arena
Karolina Pliskova continues her quest for the title in the opening match on the Melbourne Arena when she faces the American player Madison Brengle while another American follows them onto court when Madison Keys faces Anastasia Potapova of Russia. The day session ends with last year’s semi-finalist Hyeon Chung up against the doubles star Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who is looking for that singles breakthrough.
As has been the case all week, the night session on this court is just the one match and it is a men’s match as the French Open finalist Dominic Thiem is back in action. He faces the Australia wildcard Alexei Popyrin, who will be looking to claim a major scalp on what is a relatively big stage for him to perform on.
1573 Arena
Camila Giorgi has the honour of leading off play over on the 1573 Arena. She faces the qualifier from Poland in the form of Iga Swiatek before Elise Mertens looks to continue her progression in the rankings when she takes on Margarita Gasparyan before two men’s matches finish up the action as Fabio Fognini takes on Leonardo Mayer before Taro Daniel takes on the exciting Denis Shapovalov in the last match of the day.
Best of the Rest
Anastasija Sevastova, Borna Coric and Gilles Simon are some of the seeded players on show out on Court 3 for anyone with a ground pass or watching on the many streaming options at home. Dotted in and around the doubles matches elsewhere David Goffin, Qiang Wang, Daniil Medvedev and Pablo Carreno Busta are in action over on the outside courts on what looks like being a truly great day of tennis.
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Men’s Betting
There isn’t too much that I like the look of in the men’s draw on Thursday but there are a couple of seeds, who while they might come through, may well be tested a lot more than the odds suggest and one of those is David Goffin. He rarely wins comfortably at this level at the best of times but he faces a Marius Copil who he has already gone to a deciding set against when the Romanian was nowhere near the player that he is right now. Copil had some great results in 2018 and will be looking for more this year. I still think Goffin will probably come through but over 3.5 sets looks a strong possibility.
Pablo Carreno Busta had to come from two sets down to an Italian qualifier in the first round and he could be given a bit of a battle by Ilya Ivashka in the second round here. It takes a lot to recover from a five set, near on four hour clash this early in a season in this intense heat so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Spaniard is below par in this match. Ivashka is a player on the upgrade and he has been winning a few matches recently. I don’t think he’ll need to be amazing to win here but at the very worst I think he can win a set or two which should see him comfortably remain within 3.5 games of the former US Open semi-finalist.
Women’s Betting
I’ll keep things relatively simple in the women’s draw with two handicap bets and the first one comes in the form of Anastasija Sevastova who is flying at the minute. She takes on Bianca Andreescu in a match I expect her to dominate. The Latvian is clearly on the upturn and was hitting the ball very well in the opening round. Were she not in the half of the draw that she is, Sevastova could be a sleeper in this draw but as it is she can make it through this match before things get challenging. She is only giving up 3.5 games here and I expect her to do that quite comfortably.
On the other end of the scale, Simona Halep has already had one tough battle in this tournament and I’m fully expecting her to be involved in another because her second round opponent, Sofia Kenin, is not afraid of the big stage and definitely doesn’t lack for game. Halep’s class, experience and immense defensive skills may well get her through eventually but this has three tight sets written all over it in my eyes. Whoever wins I expect Kenin to keep within 3.5 games.
Daily Accumulator
We didn’t have much joy with Wednesday’s accumulator but we are nothing if not persistent so we will go again with one for Thursday in the hope of not only getting our £30 back but also make a little bit of profit.
Raonic win
Krajinovic win
Keys win
V Williams win
Mertens win
£10 pays £46.18
Tips
WON – Back D.Goffin vs M.Copil – Over 3.5 sets for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back I.Ivashka (+3.5 games) to beat P.Carreno Busta for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back him here:
WON – Back A.Sevastova (-3.5 games) to beat B.Andreescu for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
Back her here:
WON – Back S.Kenin (+4.5 games) to beat S.Halep for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfred
Back her here:
WON – Back Daily Accumulator at Betfair
Back it here:
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