The second round of the Australian Open begins in Melbourne Park on Wednesday when half of the draw plays down to the last 32 in the opening Grand Slam of the year with a decent schedule in store for us watching on.
Wednesday is a day where we will see both defending champions continuing their title defence but there are a number of potential challengers taking to the court looking to make progress towards the second week too.
Rod Laver Arena
The day session on the Rod Laver Arena begins with an interesting clash between the experienced Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur, who continues her bid for a maiden major title when she takes on the talented teenager Mirra Andreeva. When the women are done the leading ranked home male player will take to the court to round off the opening part of the day when Alex de Minaur looks for a place in the third round when he goes up against Matteo Arnaldi.
The night session is where we see both of the defending champions taking to the court. Aryna Sabalenka is the first one in action. She has a meeting with the Czech qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova to overcome to make it into the third round. When they are done Novak Djokovic will be looking for a much easier time of it than he had in the first round. He faces the competent Australian player Alexei Popyrin in a match which could get awkward if the world number one allows it to.
Margaret Court Arena
Two of the brightest young stars in the game will grace the Margaret Court Arena in the day session with the exciting Jannik Sinner the first main seed to step out into action. The Italian star has a meeting with the Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong to come through. When they are done Coco Gauff will continue her quest to win a second Grand Slam title in succession when she goes up against her compatriot Caroline Dolehide.
The night session is all about the Greek stars and will surely attract a decent crowd. Stefanos Tsitsipas will step out onto the court first but how much of the crowd he’ll have on his side remains to be seen as he takes on an Australian player in the form of Jordan Thompson. When they are done the women will round off the action on the second court when Maria Sakkari looks to make progress at the expense of Elina Avanesyan.
John Cain Arena
We have a full schedule of singles action over on the John Cain Arena on Wednesday and kicking things off is the former finalist Caroline Wozniacki. The wildcard will meet a qualifier in the form of Maria Timofeeva. When they are done the home qualifier Storm Hunter will take to the court for a clash with Laura Siegemund. The men conclude the day with two matches. The US Open semi-finalist Ben Shelton will take on the home player Christopher O’Connell before the pick of the matches on this court sees Andrey Rublev going up against Christopher Eubanks.
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Kia Arena
We also have a full schedule of action over on the Kia Arena as well and it is the former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez who gets things going when she meets Alycia Parks. When they are done Taylor Fritz will look to continue his progress in the tournament when he goes up against Hugo Gaston who is taking full use of his lucky loser opportunity. Another American follows them onto court when Frances Tiafoe goes up against Tomas Machac before the women conclude the schedule when Elise Mertens faces Marta Kostyuk.
Best of the Rest
The singles action is mixed in with a bunch of doubles matches on the outside courts on Wednesday where Sebastian Baez, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Caroline Garcia are seeded players all on show over on the 1573 Arena while Barbora Krejcikova, Karen Khachanov and Tomas Martin Etcheverry are seeds out on Court 3. Lorenzo Musetti, Seb Korda, Adrian Mannarino, Francisco Cerundolo and Lesia Tsurenko are other seeds dotted around the grounds.
Betting
I’ll go with just the one bet over the course of Wednesday and we have to wait for the night session for it to come along. When it does it will be on the Margaret Court Arena where Jordan Thompson takes on Stefanos Tsitipas in a match where I think the Australian is a live chance against a player in Tsitsipas who doesn’t look to be in the greatest form and who needed four sets to overcome a lucky loser in the first round.
Thompson has started the year positively and beat Rafael Nadal in Brisbane which will have boosted his confidence and he is sure to get plenty of home support in this match, a match where really he doesn’t have a lot to lose. I suspect Tsitsipas might find a way to get this one done but this just feels like one of those long slogs that he often gets himself involved in at this stage of a major tournament. Thompson gets a 5.5 game start from the bookmakers in this one and that feels a game or two to big to me.
Tips
Back J.Thompson (+5.5 games) to beat S.Tsitsipas for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
