The second round of the singles draws come to a close on Thursday when those players who have not competed for a second time this week so do on what looks like another special day of tennis across the Melbourne Park grounds.
The tournament caught fire on Wednesday and the likes of Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Ash Barty and Sofia Kenin are all among the players who will be looking to keep the standard high throughout Thursday.
Day 3 Recap
There was some great tennis played on Wednesday where there were straight sets wins for the likes of Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Denis Shapovalov and Grigor Dimitrov as well as Serena Williams, Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka, while the likes of Novak Djokovic, Nick Kyrgios and Simona Halep all came through tougher encounters. There were some surprises along the way too with Stan Wawrinka, Bianca Andreescu and Petra Kvitova all victims of upsets over the course of the day.
It was another up and down day for us betting wise as Bernarda Pera got herself level at a set each but could not push on and get the win which would most likely have covered the handicap but the loss there was largely recovered by Taylor Fritz who came through something of a five-set epic against his fellow American player Reilly Opelka to keep us up for the competition from the match betting to date.
Rod Laver Arena
There is a good looking match up first on the main court on Thursday as Karolina Pliskova meets the former semi-finalist from this competition in Danielle Collins. When they are done it is the turn of the world number one Ash Barty to continue her fine run of form. She meets her compatriot Daria Gavrilova who is playing on a wildcard this year. As ever there is one match from the men’s draw in the day session on Thursday and it sees Stefanos Tsitsipas going up against another home wildcard in the form of Thanasi Kokkinakis.
There is a really juicy looking match from the women’s draw to get the night session underway on Thursday when the established star Elina Svitolina taking on the rising star of whom huge things are expected in the years to come in Coco Gauff. A decent schedule on the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday concludes with the former champion Rafael Nadal on show. He has a meeting with the American qualifier Michael Mmoh to overcome.
Margaret Court Arena
It is a decent match that gets things underway on the second court on Thursday when Belinda Bencic goes up against the extremely experienced former Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The defending champion Sofia Kenin then looks to keep her title defence alive when she takes on the Estonian ace Kaia Kanepi before the Italian star, one of our two men’s outright bets, Matteo Berrettini will look to make it through to the third round when he takes on Tomas Machac, the Czech qualifier.
The men start the night session over on the Margaret Court Arena when the Australian number one Alex de Minaur will look to thrill the home crowds when he meets a man who probably produces his best stuff on a clay court in the form of Pablo Cuevas. The final match on this court on Thursday has another Australian star on show when Sam Stosur looks to continue her progression in the event. She meets Jessica Pegula who had a fine win over Victoria Azarenka in the previous round.
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John Cain Arena
There is a pretty decent card on the John Cain Arena as well with Andrey Rublev starting off the action. The seventh seed go up against the Brazilian player Thiago Monteiro before the one remaining Brit left in the women’s draw is on show as Heather Watson faces Anett Kontaveit for a place in the third round. The men are back on court after that as we have an all-Italian battle with Fabio Fognini taking on Salvatore Caruso before the night session match sees the ATP Finals winner Daniil Medvedev looking to make it through to the third round of another Slam when he meets Roberto Carballes Boena.
1573 Arena
Elise Mertens is the seeded player who will open up the play for the day on the 1573 Arena. She has a date with the Chinese player Lin Zhu before the Russian star Karen Khachanov will look to make it into the third round when he goes up against the Lithuanian number one Ricardo Berankis. There is an all-American battle up after that as Jennifer Brady will look to take a step towards a first Grand Slam title when she meets Madison Brengle before a pair of qualifiers round off the action for the day as Mayar Sherif goes up against Kaja Juvan.
Best of the Rest
As with Wednesday, the doubles forms a lot of the schedule on the outside courts on Thursday and with a number of seeds biting the dust on Tuesday there are not a huge amount of seeded players on show around the grounds. Among the ones who are in action are Filip Krajinovic, Lorenzo Sonego, Donna Vekic, Borna Coric, Karolina Muchova, Casper Ruud and Yulia Putintseva on a day where there is a lot of competition away from the main arenas if not so many standout names.
Men’s Betting
I’ll take one in the men’s draw on Thursday and it comes in the form of Tommy Paul who I think can get the better of the seeded player Casper Ruud. I say that because Ruud is much more comfortable on the clay courts and actually when these two met on one of them in the French Open last year it went to five sets before the Norwegian progressed. That makes me think that on a much quicker court that the two will play on here, the American will have an edge if not more.
Ruud arrived into this tournament off the back of five straight losses either side of Christmas and even his first round win here came against an injured opponent who ended up retiring in the third set. Paul has been much more active with a stint at the Delray Beach Open as well as a win over Cameron Norrie in a warm up event last week, a victory which has already been franked with his win over Dan Evans on Tuesday. Paul also saw off Nikoloz Basilashvili in authoritative fashion in the first round and looks a good price to take care of Ruud here.
Women’s Betting
In the women’s draw I like one as well and that comes right at the start of the day as Danielle Collins meets Karolina Pliskova for the second week in a row. The two met in a Melbourne warm up event last week when Collins got the better of the Czech before going down in three sets to Serena Williams in the next round. There is clearly something in the water that Collins likes about Melbourne after she made it to the last four here in 2019.
Pliskova also made the last four that year but she hasn’t performed to her optimum over the last 12 months or so and has dropped down the rankings a little as a result. She is someone who usually wins matches behind her big serve but that hasn’t been getting the job done since the return of the sport and even if it works here, Collins doesn’t mind the heavy servers. Collins has a lot of confidence behind her after a few wins last week and I think she’s a more than fair price to get rid of the powerful Czech here.
Tips
Back T.Paul to beat C.Ruud for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back him here:
Back D.Collins to beat K.Pliskova for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with BetVictor
Back her here:
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