The opening day of the Australian Open takes place across Melbourne Park on Monday and it does so with all the main courts full to bursting from a schedule which is as good a day one card as there has been in a Grand Slam for a long time.
We usually have to wait to see the top stars on show but that isn’t the case on Monday as both number one seeds take to the show courts along with a long list of players who will feel they can win this title.
Rod Laver Arena
We see a potential champion on show in the first match of the day on the main court when Coco Gauff takes to the big stage. She has an awkward opponent in the form of Katerina Siniakova before Maria Sakkari looks to make it through to the second round at the expense of Yue Yuan. There is only one match in the day session in the men’s draw and it sees Rafael Nadal beginning the defence of his title. He has a very tough looking assignment against the promising British player Jack Draper.
The men’s number one seed closes out the day session and the women’s number one seed starts off the night session when Iga Swiatek begins her quest for a first Australian Open title having lost out in the semi-final a year ago. She meets Wimbledon quarter finalist Jule Niemeier before the action on Rod Laver Arena concludes with the man who lost that epic final here a year ago, Daniil Medvedev, takes to the court to meet Marcos Giron.
Margaret Court Arena
We have the same two women and one men match schedule in the day session on the second court. Number three seed Jessica Pegula opens the show. She goes up against the lowly ranked Romanian player Jacqueline Cristian before the Polish number one Hubert Hurkacz looks to make it into the second round at the expense of Pedro Martinez. Two former winners meet to close out the day session when Victoria Azarenka meets Sofia Kenin in what could be the pick of the matches on the opening day.
The night session begins with the men on the Margaret Court Arena as the number three seed Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on the French player Quentin Halys for a place in round two. When they are done the American star Madison Keys begins another quest for that elusive Grand Slam title when she looks to build on playing her part in the USA success at the United Cup when she meets Anna Blinkova.
John Cain Arena
British fans will have an interest in the opening match on the John Cain Arena on Monday as Kyle Edmund returns to the big stage. He has a date with the exciting Italian youngster Jannik Sinner in what could be a great match if the Briton can find his best form. When they are done Petra Kvitova will start out on a quest for another Grand Slam title when she goes up against the competent Alison Van Uytvanck before the day session is rounded off with a match between Sebastian Baez and the home wildcard Jason Kubler. There is only one night session on this court and it sees two Canadians in action as Vasek Pospisil meets Felix Auger-Aliassime.
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Kia Arena
The beaten finalist of a year ago will be the first star name to grace the Kia Arena in this tournament when Danielle Collins faces off against Anna Kalinskaya before the popular American player Frances Tiafoe looks to build on playing his part in the US success at the United Cup when he faces Daniel Altmaier. British number one Cameron Norrie then takes to the court. He will look to continue his good form at the expense of the wildcard Luca Van Assche before the last match on this court sees the home wildcard Storm Hunter meeting Xinyu Wang.
Best of the Rest
If you have a ground pass or access to all the streams from across the courts you might want to fire a device or two up around the grounds because some big names are on show. On the 1573 Arena we see the former US Open champions Emma Raducanu and Stan Wawrinka in action as well as Denis Shapovalov and Barbora Krejcikova while on Court 3 the likes of Bianca Andreescu, Marie Bouzkova and Jelena Ostapenko are in action. Elsewhere, Sebastian Korda, Borna Coric, Jil Teichmann, Karen Khachanov, Elena Rybakina and Lorenzo Musetti are some of the other seeds on show.
Men’s Betting
I’ll start the tournament in relatively slow fashion with just the one bet in the men’s draw which sees Soonwoo Kwon covering a 2.5 game handicap against Christopher Eubanks. To be fair, both men have started the year in decent touch with Kwon winning in Adelaide last week when he took care of the likes of Pablo Carreno Busta and Roberto Bautista Agut among others on his way to the title. He should be coming in here full of confidence.
Eubanks qualified for Auckland last week and then beat Ugo Humbert when he got there but he had no answer to David Goffin and I’m not convinced he has the all-round game to stick with the Korean over five sets. Kwon was hitting the ball really well in the matches I saw of him in Adelaide last week and looks like a player who is going to rise through the rankings in 2023. I think that can begin with a fairly comfortable opening win here.
Women’s Betting
I’ll go with one in the women’s draw as well and we have to wait until the night session for that to come around when Iga Swiatek meets Jule Niemeier for the second Grand Slam in a row. The two met at the US Open last year when the German took the world number one to a third set and at one stage looked like she was all over the Polish superstar. I’m not convinced she’ll win this one either but I do think Neimeier can make a match of it.
The German has a lot of power on her strokes and if she can have an inspired 20 minutes or so she will get Swiatek on the hop a little. Swiatek didn’t look the most confident I’ve ever seen her at the United Cup with a couple of opponents having the chance to beat her before Jessica Pegula eventually did. We can get a total games line of 17.5 for this match and I think Niemeier can keep one of the sets close enough to cover that if not sneak a set to fully go over it.
Tips
Back S.Kwon (-2.5 games) to beat C.Eubanks for a 3/10 stake at 1.87 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back I.Swiatek vs J.Niemeier – Over 17.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Betway
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