After an opening day of the tournament which was largely affected by rain, we have a busy second day in store at the Australian Open on Tuesday, as the first round of both the singles draws comes to a close at Melbourne Park.
With roofs on the main courts we saw some star names on Monday and among those in action on Tuesday include the defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic, US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev as well as Karolina Pliskova and the Wimbledon winner Simona Halep.
Day 1 Recap
There wasn’t many matches completed on the opening day of the tournament but we still managed to receive our first big shock of it with Denis Shapovalov being shot out in four sets by Hungarian player Marton Fucsovics. Elsewhere there were all too comfortable wins for Roger Federer, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka. Coco Gauff announced herself to the world once again in defeating Venus Williams for the second time in the last three Grand Slams.
We didn’t have any bets for Monday with the forecast as foul as it was for the outside courts, and too many favourites unopposable on the main courts but with a much improved outlook for Tuesday and a whole stack of matches to go at, our tournament match betting will begin on the second day of action.
Rod Laver Arena
We have a couple of cracking women’s contests to get us up and running on the main court on Tuesday. The number two seed Karolina Pliskova opens the show when she takes on Kiki Mladenovic while the pick of the two sees Donna Vekic up against the former champion Maria Sharapova in what should be an absolute cracker. If that wasn’t enough value for your day ticket then Rafael Nadal rounds off the action when he takes on Hugo Dellien.
The night session gets underway with the men’s match and it has the makings of being another great game as the US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev begins another quest for a first Grand Slam title when he takes on the competent American player Frances Tiafoe. It is the former champion Angelique Kerber who rounds off the day when she takes on the qualifier Elisabetta Cocciaretto for a place in the second round.
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Margaret Court Arena
The improving Belinda Bencic begins another Grand Slam tilt first up on the secondary court on Tuesday. She faces the capable Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova before one of the better looking men’s matches takes place as Adrian Mannarino looks to cause an upset against the fifth seeded Dominic Thiem before the day session concludes with the Australian player Ajla Tomljanovic going up against Anastasija Sevastova.
Two star names dominate the night session on the Margaret Court Arena as Simona Halep and Alexander Zverev begin their campaigns over the course of the evening. The Romanian ace starts out in her quest for a third Grand Slam title against Jennifer Brady while Zverev faces the potentially solid challenge of Italian player Marco Cecchinato in a match that could end up being quite tight given the history of Zverev in the majors.
Melbourne Arena
This is another court which kicks off with a couple of women’s matches, the first of which sees Rebecca Peterson in action. She takes on Polona Hercog in a match held over from Monday before the number 10 seed Madison Keys faces Daria Kasatkina in what should be the pick of those two games. The day session then ends with former Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka looking to make it into round two when he takes on the Bosnian player Damir Dzumhur.
Two matches are being held back for later action with two popular players on show. The first of those sees Jo-Wilfried Tsonga taking to the court to face the home man Alexei Popyrin for a place in the second round before the big Australian star Nick Kyrgios starts out on his journey when he takes on the Italian veteran Lorenzo Sonego for his own place in the second round.
1573 Arena
All British eyes will be on the popular 1573 Arena first up as Jo Konta finally takes to the court to face Ons Jabeur in a match which should have taken place on Monday. They will be followed by the conclusion of the clash between Reilly Opelka and Fabio Fognini which the American led when the rain arrived. Another men’s match comes after that as the talented Felix Auger-Aliassime goes up against the veteran qualifier Ernests Gulbis. The day session is rounded off by another British player being on show when Katie Boulter goes up against the fifth seed Elina Svitolina.
There is a night session on this court as well as we aim to catch up after the Monday rain. That begins with Gael Monfils taking to the court when he goes up against Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei while two household names in the women’s draw round off the action on this arena when the 11 seed Aryna Sabalenka takes on the Spanish veteran Carla Suarez Navarro in her final Australian Open.
Best of the Rest
There are plenty of other big names dotted around the courts on Tuesday as the tournament looks to get back on track. David Goffin, Kiki Bertens and Elise Mertens are all on Court 3 while the likes of Maria Sakkari and Marketa Vondrousova are out on Court 7. Diego Schwartzman, John Isner, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Roberto Bautista Agut, Elena Rybakina, Pablo Carreno Busta, Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov are just some of the other seeded players who will be on show away from the main courts over the course of the day and into the evening.
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Men’s Betting
I like three bets in the men’s draw on Tuesday with the first of them coming first up on Court 3 as John Millman takes on Ugo Humbert. The Frenchman is a player on the rise at the minute and I’m siding with him here. If Millman wasn’t Australian I’ve got to think that Humbert would be a lot shorter than he actually is. Humbert arrives here having taken care of the likes of Denis Shapovalov, John Isner and Benoit Paire to win in Auckland last week and the extra day off has probably done him no harm. To be fair to Millman he is 4-1 in matches this year and had a good win against Karen Khachanov in Auckland last week but there’s a limitation to his game which I think Humbert can exploit.
Stan Wawrinka is a favourite to come through his match against Damir Dzumhur and while I think that is right, the fact that the Bosnian leads their head to head 2-1 suggests that it might not be all one way traffic in that one. It has been a low key start to the year for Dzumhur but he generally raises his game in the majors and while I expect him to be beaten over the course of five sets, I do see him claiming a set before he departs so I like over 3.5 sets here.
Finally, Cameron Norrie has looked a bit poor in recent times and I think he’s there for the taking for Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the French player who is making good strides in the singles game after another excellent run alongside Nicolas Mahut in the doubles towards the end of last season. Norrie looked massively low on confidence in the ATP Cup recently and a first round loss to Thiago Monteiro in Auckland last week won’t have helped that. Herbert had a couple of good wins in Doha over the turn of the year before losing to eventual champion Andrey Rublev in the quarter final. Given what we’ve seen recently, it would be a surprise if Herbert doesn’t cover 1.5 games.
Women’s Betting
Two bets catch my eye over the course of the day in the women’s draw and they begin with Laura Siegemund, a player who was competitive enough against Serena recently, to beat Coco Vandeweghe who has disappeared from trace with injuries and a chronic loss of form. Siegemund had good wins over the young American pair of Catherine McNally and Coco Gauff before that defeat to Serena so there appears to be nothing wrong with her fight and the way she is hitting the ball. Vandeweghe might be competitive for a set or so but I’ve got to think the German can win this.
Anastasija Sevastova is a player I like but there is no denying she is in terrible form heading into this tournament and the competitive Ajla Tomljanovic can use home advantage against her here. Tomljanovic is only 2-2 for the year which doesn’t suggest much but her two defeats were to Karolina Pliskova 4-6 7-6 1-6 and Simona Halep 4-6 5-7 so she was competitive on both occasions, which suggests she can exploit the confidence frailties of the Latvian here. Sevastova has lost both of her matches this season and has now won just one of her last seven competitive outings dating back to the US Open. I’ll take the odds against on the qualified Australian here.
Daily Accumulator
As ever in the early stages of the Grand Slams we’ll have a go at a daily accumulator to keep us entertained while trawling the many streams on show in the hope of banking a little extra profit. This week we’ll go with Boylesports where if you opt in you get a free £5 accumulator after you’ve placed five such bets. Tuesday’s offering is a fivefold.
Rybakina win
Watson win
Isner win
Hurkacz win
Tsonga win
£5 returns £43.33
Tips
Back U.Humbert to beat J.Millman for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
WON – Back L.Siegemund to beat C.Vandeweghe for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back them here:
WON – Back D.Dzumhur vs S.Wawrinka – Over 3.5 sets for a 4/10 stake at 1.92 with 888sport
Back it here:
Back P-H.Herbert (-1.5 games) to beat C.Norrie for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betway
Back him here:
WON – Back A.Tomljanovic to beat A.Sevastova for a 4/10 stake at 2.05 with Boylesports
WON – Back Daily Accumulator at Boylesports
Back them here:
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