After all the controversy about whether Novak Djokovic would or wouldn’t get the chance to defend his Australian Open title, the tournament finally gets underway at Melbourne Park on Monday and the tennis can do the talking.
We have a loaded schedule on the opening day of the tournament where a new arena comes into play to add even more quality venues to an event which is one of the underrated gems of the season despite its status.
Rod Laver Arena
The Rod Laver Arena is still the main venue at this tournament and it will be graced to begin with by the fifth seed Maria Sakkari. The Greek star faces Tatjana Maria before Naomi Osaka gets her title defence underway. The Japanese star will go up against Camila Osorio in what should be a relatively routine win for the twice champion. Once the two women’s matches are done there is a men’s match to close out the session as Rafael Nadal begins a quest for another Grand Slam title when he takes on Marcos Giron.
Novak Djokovic was scheduled to be on the night session but clearly that isn’t going to happen now. Instead the home favourite and number one seed on the women’s draw will get the evening underway when Ash Barty takes on the competent qualifier Lesia Tsurenko. The men’s match sees the Olympic champion Alexander Zverev flexed into the main arena when he takes on his countryman Daniel Altmaier to end the opening day.
Margaret Court Arena
Despite the controversy over its name, the Margaret Court Arena is still the second court for this fortnight and opening the show on it will be Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian ace meets Fiona Ferro for a place in the second round. Matteo Berrettini is the man who has benefitted the most from the departure of Novak Djokovic and he’ll begin his quest to take advantage of that when he meets Brandon Nakashima before the American youngster Coco Gauff meets Qiang Wang to round off the day session.
The night session on this court is all about the Australian players. One of their better men players opens up the evening session when John Millman takes on the veteran Spaniard Feliciano Lopez before the winner of the tournament in Sydney last week, Paula Badosa, looks to back that up when she takes on the home favourite Ajla Tomljanovic in what could be a real lengthy battle between two very tough players.
John Cain Arena
There is a really good schedule over on the third court on Monday and that begins with the exciting Canadian player Denis Shapovalov. He takes on Laslo Djere before the first of our outright bets takes to the court when Hubert Hurkacz meets Egor Gerasimov. There will then be a pause in play before one of the pick of the matches in the first round of the women’s draw when the 2020 champion Sofia Kenin meets the Adelaide winner from last week in Madison Keys in a clash which is far too early in the tournament. The final match of the day on this court sees another player who won a tournament on Saturday on court as Aslan Karatsev meets Jaume Munar.
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Kia Arena
The Olympic champion Belinda Bencic opens up the new court on Monday when the Swiss star goes up against a Kiki Mladenovic who could be useful on her best form but who doesn’t show that as often as we would like her to. When they are done the entertaining French star Gael Monfils will take to the court to meet Federico Coria before the first British action on the show courts comes along when Cameron Norrie faces the dangerous American player Sebastian Korda. The night session over on this court sees the French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova taking on Andrea Petkovic in a match which could be on a better court.
Best of the Rest
There is one other show court has a decent schedule on it when the likes of Karen Khachanov, Ons Jabeur and Amanda Anisimova take to the 1573 Arena while on the outside courts we get to see the likes of Lloyd Harris, Victoia Azarenka, Carlos Alcaraz, Jessica Pegula, Pablo Carreno Busta, Fabio Fognini, Cristian Garin, Reilly Opelka and Jelena Ostapenko. All these names and more will be available to view for those with access to the all-court streams.
Men’s Betting
I’ll go with just the one bet in the men’s draw on Monday and I’m actually taking on the British player Cameron Norrie who has started this season terribly when you consider what he achieved last term. It was a breakthrough year for the Briton in 2021 but in football we often see a second season syndrome and maybe that is what we are getting from Norrie. He played in the ATP Cup a couple of weeks ago but lost all three of his matches, winning just one set in seven and not really looking great.
He faces a Sebastian Korda who almost a year ago to the day beat him in straight sets in Delray Beach. Norrie has kicked on since then but Korda has improved in that time as well and if the ATP Cup is anything to go by Norrie is just going to look to get as many balls back into play as possible. That is fine against some players but not those with the powerful weapons that Korda has so I think the American is more than a bit of value here.
Women’s Betting
Alison Riske might have got a little fortunate on her way to the final of the Adelaide event last week in that her quarter final opponent Madison Brengle withdrew during the first set and her semi-final opponent Tamara Zidansek withdrew before her match but the American arrives to this tournament with some matches under her belt and some positive vibes. She goes up against Donna Vekic in what might be one of the better games on the opening day.
Vekic won her last tournament which was a minor event in Courmayeur in Italy but that was back in November so she is going to come in here a little rusty and underdone and that might be significant. At her best Vekic can certainly compete at this level but she is in a fading ranking of 69 whereas Riske is probably better than her ranking in the mid-50s. At this stage of the season I’m happy to take the one with matches in the tank and that is Riske here.
Tips
WON – Back S.Korda to beat C.Norrie for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with BetVictor
Back him here:
WON – Back A.Riske to beat D.Vekic for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
Back her here:
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