The second week of the Australian Open begins on Sunday when the top half of the two singles draws play down to the quarter final on what looks like being another excellent day of tennis on the show courts at Melbourne Park.
We are now down to just the eight singles matches over the course of the day and evening so the action is reduced to the three main courts from here on in. I always think that elevates the profile of the tournament and the standard should increase accordingly.
Rod Laver Arena
As has been the case all week we begin with two women’s matches on the Rod Laver Arena with the first of them seeing the two women who won tournaments last Saturday meeting when the Adelaide winner Madison Keys meets the Sydney champion Paula Badosa. Two Grand Slam champions meet in the second game of the day when the reigning French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova takes on the former winner here in Victoria Azarenka. The men conclude the day session with Rafael Nadal back on court. He will take on Adrian Mannarino for a quarter final spot.
The women open up the night session on Sunday evening when the world number one and the home star Ash Barty looks to move to within three wins of her first Slam title on home soil when she meets Amanda Anisimova who had a big win over the defending champion Naomi Osaka in the previous round. The Italian ace Matteo Berrettini will then round off the day on Rod Laver when he takes on Pablo Carreno Busta in what looks like being a physical match.
Margaret Court Arena
Just the two singles matches take place on the Margaret Court Arena over the course of Sunday and we have to wait until a doubles match has been and gone before the first of those comes along. When it does it sees Jessica Pegula looking for a place in the last eight. She faces the Greek star Maria Sakkari in what looks like another very good women’s match. The men round off the day on Sunday with a clash between the Olympic champion Alexander Zverev meets the exciting Canadian star Denis Shapovalov.
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John Cain Arena
It is mostly legends doubles and men’s doubles throughout the day session over on the John Cain Arena but there is one singles match on this part of the Melbourne Park complex. It comes in the night session in the men’s draw as Miomir Kecmanovic, who is making full use of the fact Novak Djokovic got thrown out of his section, takes on Gael Monfils for a place in the quarter final of the first Grand Slam of the year.
Betting
I only like one bet over the course of Sunday and it comes over on the Margaret Court Arena where two men who never seem to do things the easy way meet when Alexander Zverev takes on Denis Shapovalov in a match which I expect to have a fair bit of mileage in it. Shapovalov actually has a decent recent record against the German having won two of their last three meetings and going down in a deciding set in the other one so he’s entitled to keep this fairly close.
To be fair to Zverev, he has made it into the second week of the tournament having not lost a set so far but he was forced to work hard in the opening round and he might just be a beneficiary of a poor set of opponents rather than dazzling tennis he has displayed. He certainly looks to be tested here against a Shapovalov who always fights hard and to the end. Matches between these two tend to be tight affairs and I don’t see any difference with this one. I like over 36.5 games in this one.
Tips
Back A.Zverev vs D.Shapovalov – Over 36.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
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