The third round of the Australian Open draws to a close on what has the hallmarks of being a Super Saturday at Melbourne Park. When play finishes on the day we will know the identity of the 16 players going into the second week of the tournament in both singles events.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Sloane Stephens were among the big players to make it through on Friday with Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Serena Williams and Elina Svitolina all looking to follow them on Saturday.
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Rod Laver Arena
Elina Svitolina will be out on court first on Saturday when she takes on the Chinese player Shuai Zhang before Serena Williams will look to make it into the second week of the opening Grand Slam of the year as she takes on the unknown Ukraine player Dayana Yastremska. Novak Djokovic will then take to the court to face the exciting Denis Shapovalov in arguably the pick of the matches on Saturday’s card.
The night session begins with Alexander Zverev in action once again. He takes on the Australian wildcard Alex Bolt who certainly won’t be short of support on the big stage. Camila Giorgi then goes up against Karolina Pliskova in a juicy looking ending to the action on the main court on Saturday.
Margaret Court Arena
The US Open champion Naomi Osaka is away from the main show court on Saturday. She opens the card against Su-Wei Hsieh in an all-Asian affair before another star of Asia, Kei Nishikori, will look to avoid another five-setter when he takes on Joao Sousa before two really good players meet to conclude the day session when Elise Mertens takes on Madison Keys in a very juicy looking encounter.
Quite incredibly the night session begins with what could be an epic contest between the world number one Simona Halep and Venus Williams who meet in a match which deserves a much bigger stage than the one it has got. Lucas Pouille then rounds off the day when he goes up against the other Australian wildcard still in, in the form of Alexei Popyrin.
Melbourne Arena
A legends doubles match gets the action underway on this court but then things get pretty serious with a couple of tasty men’s matches. David Goffin goes up against the form horse Daniil Medvedev before the strong looking Milos Raonic is in third round action. He was due to be facing Sam Querrey in this match but instead he meets Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the final match of the day session.
Garbine Muguruza will be hoping that her night session match doesn’t go on quite as long as her last one did when she didn’t get finished until 3.12am local time. She faces another tough encounter though with Timez Bacsinszky looking back to something approaching her best form after a period of struggle.
1573 Arena
A legend doubles match starts the card off on this court too with the remaining singles matches on the day following it. They begin with what could be a really explosive match between Qiang Wang of China and the Latvian number one Anastasija Sevastova before the men take centre stage. Fabio Fognini goes up against Pablo Carreno Busta and then the action on this court concludes with the youngster Borna Coric going up against Filip Krajinovic in a tussle in which nobody would be surprised if it runs close.
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Men’s Betting
There is one bet for me in the men’s draw on Saturday where I’m expecting a longer match than is slated by the bookmakers between Borna Coric and Filip Krajinovic. The former Paris Masters finalist has slipped right down the rankings since then but he has played some nice stuff this week and I think he can take Coric into the trenches and test out what the youngster is made of. It might be that Coric highlights his undoubted class but whether he does or he doesn’t I think we’re going beyond 35.5 games before we get the outcome in this one.
Women’s Betting
I like two bets in the women’s draw. Qiang Wang finished 2018 in fine style and while a lot of that was down to the tournaments being in Asia, she was still playing some great tennis and seeing off some good calibre of opposition. She will need to do all of that to beat Anastasija Sevastova but the Latvian worried me with her second set wobble in the previous match and if she has a slow period in this match it could be fatal. Sevastova has never really done much beyond this stage of a Slam so the Chinese player could be the one to be on at odds against.
Another player I’m happy to back at odds against is the Italian ace Camila Giorgi. Although she isn’t the biggest woman in the world she packs a lot of heart and isn’t short of punch either. I think she can out rally the Czech star Karolina Pliskova. The power of the Czech is clear for all to see but her movement can be exposed and I believe Giorgi has the tools to do it. The Italian could be vulnerable on her serve but not enough to sway me from getting involved in her. She has only dropped five games so far this week so should be fresh as a daisy and looks overpriced to me.
Daily Accumulator
We didn’t have any joy with our accumulator on Friday but we’ll have another go on the card on Saturday in the hope of getting some returns to take into the second week of the tournament with us.
Medvedev win
Carreno Busta win
Osaka win
Muguruza win
£10 returns £57.72
Tips
WON – Back B.Coric vs F.Krajinovic – Over 35.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
Back it here:
Back Q.Wang to beat A.Sevastova for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
Back C.Giorgi to beat K.Pliskova for a 4/10 stake at 2.50 with Skybet
WON – Back Daily Accumulator at 888sport
Back it here:
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