The so called second week of the Australian Open gets underway on Sunday when the last 16 of the opening Grand Slam of the year starts out across the big arenas at Melbourne Park, on a day where there is plenty of intrigue.
There was carnage in this section of the singles draws on Friday and there is the potential for a lot more of the same on Sunday as Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Coco Gauff are among the players on show.
Day 6 Recap
It promised to be another wonderful day of action on Saturday but in the end it turned into a bit of a damp squib with most of the big names easing their way through. The exception to that was Karolina Pliskova who exited the tournament to a brilliant performance from our 200/1 outright bet Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Elsewhere, there were comfortable wins for Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, Simona Halep and Kiki Bertens while Elina Svitolina was another surprise casualty.
It was the first shocking day of the tournament for us betting wise sadly with all three match bets losing. Some of that was lessened out by Pavlyuchenkova making progress in a section of the draw which has opened right up now but we’ll need better than that on Sunday to keep ourselves in a good position for the event.
[the_ad id=”16664″]
Rod Laver Arena
Half of the singles matches on the day take place on the main Rod Laver Arena court but we have to wait for a legends doubles match to be played out before we get underway. When we do it will be the beaten finalist of last year, Petra Kvitova, in action when she takes on Maria Sakkari who has almost been the sleeper in the draw thus far. The men’s match in the day session harbours claims of being the pick of the clashes on the seventh day of the tournament as the defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic goes up against the diminutive but classy Diego Schwartzman.
The night session gets underway with the top player in the women’s game, the home girl Ash Barty who faces a stern challenge from the rapidly improving American player Alison Riske, who looks in the sort of form to keep progressing. Roger Federer is back under the lights two days after that epic against John Millman. He will be hoping the test of Marton Fucsovics is somewhat easier than that one was.
Margaret Court Arena
Once again it is doubles that gets the action underway on the Margaret Court Arena but then when that is done and the singles gets going in the afternoon it is the two big servers of Milos Raonic and Marin Cilic who will battle it out for a quarter final spot before the two giant killers of Friday take to the stage when Ons Jabeur meets the conqueror of Serena Williams in Qiang Wang with both ladies knowing that their section of the draw has opened right up. The Bryans conclude the action with a doubles match on this court.
Melbourne Arena
There are two doubles matches to kick things off over on the Melbourne Arena, the only other court with singles action on it on Sunday. When the singles does finally get underway much later in the day it will be the two young Americans meeting for a quarter final slot as Coco Gauff meets Sofia Kenin in a huge match for both ladies. We have to wait quite a while for the only men’s action on this court on Sunday and that comes when Tennys Sandgren takes on Fabio Fognini with the winner potentially meeting Roger Federer in the quarter final.
[the_ad id=”28555″]
Men’s Betting
I’ll take one in the men’s draw on Sunday with that being on the games in the match between Novak Djokovic and Diego Schwartzman, where I believe the line is a little on the low side at 29.5. There is no doubting that Djokovic has been in great form this week but you have to wonder what he has faced and in truth the answer isn’t a whole lot. Schwartzman is an upgrade on what he has taken on not just in rankings but in belief of what he can do against the Serb.
Schwartzman has taken Djokovic to a deciding set in both their previous meetings and while they were both on clay, the diminutive Argentine hits the ball just as well on a hard court so I’m expecting plenty of lengthy rallies. Schwartzman was hitting the ball about as well as I’ve seen him in a while against Lajovic in the previous round and while I think him winning would be stretching it a little, I expect a close set or two which should bring this games line safely in.
Women’s Betting
There is just the one I like in the women’s draw as well where Alison Riske is in receipt of a game too many for my liking against Ash Barty. I get that Barty is the favourite here and have no problems with that but a 4.5 game handicap is a lot to cover against someone who can take the racquet out of the hands of anyone on her day and who is not averse to going the distance to get the job done.
Barty came through nicely against Elena Rybakina in the last round but there were flashes of signs that the Kazakh had the beating of the Australian but stage fright got to her and in the end the score was probably more one-sided than it deserved to be. Riske went toe to toe with Julia Goerges in the previous round and her power can keep Barty honest here. Riske has won both their previous meetings and the worst I expect is for her to staying within 4.5 games here.
Daily Accumulator
Having placed five accumulators with Boylesports this week we now have our free one to spend on what will be the last time we go with one this week with matches beginning to run out. Hopefully we can take a few more quid from them before we end with this fourfold.
Cilic win
Fognini win
Kvitova win
Wang win
£5 returns £34.02
Tips
Back D.Schwartzman vs N.Djokovic – Over 29.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Betway
Back it here:
WON – Back A.Riske (+4.5 games) to beat A.Barty for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfred
Back Daily Accumulator with Boylesports
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
