The first round is scheduled to conclude at the Australian Open on Tuesday when those who didn’t get their campaign underway on Monday come out at Melbourne Park to do so on the second day of the opening Grand Slam of the year.
In the main the big names all made it safely through on Monday and on Tuesday the likes of Novak Djokovic, Ons Jabeur, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Caroline Garcia and Aryna Sabalenka get their campaign started.
Rod Laver Arena
We begin with two women’s matches on the main show court on Tuesday and it all starts with Aryna Sabalenka beginning her latest quest for a maiden Grand Slam title when she goes up against Tereza Martincova before the US Open finalist Caroline Garcia takes to the court for a clash with the qualifier Katherine Sebov. The men’s match in the day session looks like a pearler as Matteo Berrettini takes on an Andy Murray who was retired here a few years ago but is back for more!
Two matches formulate the night session on Tuesday and we begin with the women’s match as the US Open champion Ons Jabeur starts her quest for consecutive Grand Slam titles when she meets Tamara Zidansek in what looks like a good way to begin the evening. Novak Djokovic then makes his return to the Australian Open having been forced to miss last year. He meets the Spanish player Roberto Carballes Baena.
Margaret Court Arena
Two top class acts get us underway over on the Margaret Court Arena when Elise Mertens meets Garbine Muguruza in what would be a match much deeper in the event in years gone by. When they are done the big serving Karolina Pliskova will be on the court to take on the Chinese player Xiyu Wang. The day session on this court concludes with a men’s match which sees Alexander Zverev back at a Grand Slam after his injury at the French Open. He meets the lucky loser Juan Pablo Varillas.
We have two matches in the night session over on the second court on Tuesday as well with Belinda Bencic looking to continue the form which took her to the title in Adelaide last week. She opens up her tournament against the Bulgarian player Viktoriya Tomova. When they are done the number two seed Casper Ruud looks to make it into the second round of the event when he takes on the rising Czech player Tomas Machac.
John Cain Arena
Two men who are no stranger to the second week of a Grand Slam meet in the opening round of this one to start the action over on the John Cain Arena when Andrey Rublev takes on the wildcard Dominic Thiem, the former US Open champion. Taylor Fritz will then make his way onto the court to face Nikoloz Basilashvili in another match that would have looked better than it does now a couple of years ago. One women’s match concludes the day session on this course and it sees Veronika Kudermetova going up against Maryna Zanevska. The night session sees the best home hope for glory this fortnight now Nick Kyrgios has pulled out on show when Alex de Minaur meets Yu Hsiou-hsu.
Kia Arena
The women get us underway out on the Kia Arena and there is home representation in the first game when the wildcard Kimberly Birrell meets Kaia Kanepi before Holder Rune looks to entertain what is usually a decent crowd on this court. He meets Filip Krajinovic in a good looking game. The third match onto the court sees another home player on show when Thanasi Kokkinakis meets Fabio Fognini before the show concludes with Daria Kasatkina facing off against Varvara Gracheva.
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Best of the Rest
Once again if you have a ground pass on Tuesday or you have access to all of the streams then there will be some great players to watch throughout the day. Grigor Dimitrov, Anett Kontaveit and Liudmila Samsonova are seeded players out on the 1573 Arena while elsewhere Beatriz Haddad Maia, Dan Evans, Miomir Kecmanovic, Pablo Carreno Busta, Roberto Bautista Agut and Diego Schwartzman are just some of the other players on show.
Men’s Betting
Two bets jump out at me on the second day of the competition in the men’s draw and the first of those sees John Isner going up against Adrian Mannarino, a man who has been dominated by the serve of the American throughout their nine matches, of which Isner has won eight. Mannarino isn’t the first or last player to have issues getting the Isner serve back and if those problems remain then it is hard to see any joy for the Frenchman here. There are fitness concerns over Isner heading into this match but he isn’t a player who exerts too much with his dominant serve. I think that only presents us with a much nicer price to get stuck into. I’ll go with Isner in this one.
It is another veteran that I like in the other bet on Tuesday. That is the Auckland champion Richard Gasquet who can pick up a third win over compatriot Ugo Humbert in as many meetings. These two met here last year and Gasquet won in four sets and something similar might well transpire here. Humbert has lost his last four matches on the tour at the start of this season and the end of the last one and has shot down the rankings over the last two years. Despite his advancing years Gasquet is back in the top 50 in the world and I expect him to have too much here.
Women’s Betting
There is only one bet which really interests me in the women’s draw although I was close to pulling the trigger on bets to back Petra Martic and Alize Cornet but I’d like a slightly bigger price than I am getting. The bet I am happy to take comes in the match between the former Grand Slam champion Sloane Stephens and Anastasia Potapova. The Russian pulled out of the tournament in Adelaide last week where she was a lucky loser citing the heat as the problem.
There is nothing wrong with that if that was an issue but a day where the temperatures are expected to reach 35 degrees in Melbourne probably isn’t going to suit her so she has to be taken on. Stephens didn’t have the best of years in 2022 but the one thing we know about the American is she thrives in the big events and big stages and I think she’ll more than fancy the job here. You can get 4/5 on Stephens to win this and the longer it goes the stronger she might be if Potapova has issues with the heat once again.
Tips
Back J.Isner to beat A.Mannarino for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back R.Gasquet to beat U.Humbert for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back them here:
Back S.Stephens to beat A.Potapova for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfred
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