The third round of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the tennis year, begins in Melbourne on Friday and it does so with everyone still reeling from the defeat for Novak Djokovic on Thursday.
Although that was in the other half to the men on show on Friday it will have sent shockwaves through the locker room and might just have focused a few minds. Andy Murray will be looking to take advantage of that loss for his big rival.
Rod Laver Arena
The action gets underway on Friday with the clash between Eugenie Bouchard and Coco Vandeweghe before the defending champion Angelique Kerber takes on Kristyna Pliskova. The day session ends with Stan Wawrinka looking to continue his bid for a second Australian title when he faces Viktor Troicki.
The night session looks a good one as always. Home hope Ashleigh Barty will take on the lady who knocked off the Olympic champion in the last round in Mona Barthel before the match of the round on the men’s side of the draw as Tomas Berdych faces Roger Federer.
Margaret Court Arena
Two seeds meet first up as Elina Svitolina takes on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before Jo-Wilfried Tsonga takes on Jack Sock. The day session on this court rounds off with a match between Ying-Ying Duan and Venus Williams.
The night session starts with Kei Nishikori taking on Lukas Lacko before Anastasija Sevastova takes on the French Open champion Garbine Muguruza.
Hisense Arena
There are some good players on show on this court. Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova get it underway when they take on each other before Andy Murray is back on court. He takes on Sam Querrey and they are followed by Bernard Tomic against Daniel Evans to round off the day.
Best of the Rest
There are a few matches in the singles draw on the outside courts but they are generally the ones which don’t involve the seeds. Plenty of doubles action occupies the remainder of the schedule for those with ground passes.
Betting
There are three bets I like on Friday and they all come from the men’s draw. The first one is the battle between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Jack Sock which in these fast conditions should be serve dominated. Both men look to be playing well coming into the match so I’m not expecting too many one-sided sets. They went four sets in the US Open last year and a fourth set here should see the games line comfortably over 41.5.
Dan Evans is on a good run at the minute. He has begun 2017 with a run to the final in Sydney and I like him to come past Bernard Tomic who looked absolutely shot in the previous round. Evans already has a Grand Slam win over the Australian and with his confidence even higher after his win against Marin Cilic in the previous round I like the Briton to win this one.
After a retirement and a straight sets win Tomas Berdych should be nice and fresh heading into his match with Roger Federer and he might just be getting the legend at the right time. Federer hasn’t played a lot of tennis recently and has already dropped a set in this tournament to highlight that he could be rusty. Federer holds a decent record against Berdych but if the Czech is ever going to beat him again then with the way he is hitting the ball it could well be here.
Tips
WON – Back J-W.Tsonga vs J.Sock – Over 41.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Boylesports
Back it here:
WON – Back D.Evans to beat B.Tomic for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
Back T.Berdych to beat R.Federer for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with William Hill
Back him here:
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