The quarter finals of the Australian Open will get underway on Tuesday when the first half of matches are played out. Every remaining singles match will be played on the Rod Laver Arena from here on in which adds to the profile of the tournament now.
The day is littered with star names on Tuesday. We have both defending champions taking to the court while a couple of future world number ones will also be on the schedule as well so there is a lot to like about the Tuesday play.
Day Session
Marta Kostyuk vs Coco Gauff
The first quarter final to take to the main stage sees the US Open champion Coco Gauff looking to make it into another Grand Slam semi-final as she bids to win successive Slams. The unseeded Ukrainian player Marta Kostyuk stands in her way.
Kostyuk has done really well to come through into the last eight of this tournament but this will be the first significant test that she has faced and I expect her to come up short. Gauff is a different animal since she won the US Open and has played very well in this tournament, coming through without even looking like dropping a set to build on her win in Auckland in the lead up to the event. Prior to that US Open win you could make a case for Gauff feeling the pressure of favouritism and all of that but it looks like winning her home slam has freed her up completely and I expect her to win this and win it well but the odds are all fully reflective of that.
Novak Djokovic vs Taylor Fritz
The first of the men’s quarter finals sees Novak Djokovic continuing the defence of the title when he goes up against the American player Taylor Fritz with the two meeting in the second Grand Slam in succession having collided in the US Open.
These two men have met on eight previous occasions and Fritz has lost the lot and only taken a set in one of those matches. That was here three years ago when he was 2-0 down at the time and was able to swing from the hip. Their most recent meeting was at the US Open last year when they faced each other in a quarter final which Fritz won just nine games in what was a blowout. Djokovic took a while to get going in this tournament, dropping sets in the opening two matches, but he lost just three games in the previous round and looks like he is in his usual groove. Fritz had to go through a four-set match in a win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round where he was hitting the ball well but he is going to need to improve a lot to give Djokovic a challenge. I don’t see him landing a blow but as with the women’s match the odds are fully reflective of that.
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Night Session
Barbora Krejcikova vs Aryna Sabalenka
Two Grand Slam winners meet to open up the night session when the former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova takes on the reigning champion of this event in the form of Aryna Sabalenka in the pick of the matches in the women’s draw.
These two have had very different runs to this stage of the tournament. Sabalenka has battered all before her, while Krejcikova has had to battle through three deciding sets in four matches to get to this stage. The defending champion has been on court for around four hours in total while three of the Krejcikova matches have gone beyond two hours on their own. Sabalenka is playing so well and the problem I think the Czech has here is she would probably have more of a chance against the Belarussian on a slow court but their last two meetings were in Miami and in Stuttgart, so a slow hard court and on clay, and Sabalenka won both times dropping 10 games in total. This is a faster court and the defending champion is hitting the ball so well that I expect her to cruise through this one. I think the 19.5 game line could be a little on the high side here when you consider that Sabalenka has only dropped 11 games in total so far and Krejcikova lacks the firepower to take this deep.
Jannik Sinner vs Andrey Rublev
The last match on Tuesday sees two of the next stars in the game taking to the court to face each other when the Italian ace Jannik Sinner takes on Andrey Rublev, who has a habit of getting to this stage of a Grand Slam but not being able to go any further.
This will be the tenth time that Rublev has made it to the quarter final of a Grand Slam and we are still waiting for him to reach the semi-final and there has to be something in that. He usually beats himself up in these quarter finals because invariably he faces a top player in them and he has that problem again here because Sinner is one of the best players in the world, who has come through the draw nicely despite having to take on competent seeds in the form of Sebastian Baez and Karen Khachanov. Rublev had been cruising through the draw but had to go five sets and over four hours in beating Alex de Minaur in the last round and that isn’t ideal preparation to take on Sinner. I expect Sinner to win and probably with plenty in hand but not for the first time on Tuesday the odds are reflective of that.
Tips
Back B.Krejcikova vs A.Sabalenka – Under 19.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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