The third round of the Australian Open gets underway out in Melbourne Park on Friday which means that for the first time in the opening Grand Slam of the year the seeded players will be able to face each other, as the competitive element of the event increases.
We have seen so many deciding set matches so far this week and it would be foolish if we expect to see anything different over the course of Friday, a day where both of the defending champions will look to make it into the second week of the event.
Rod Laver Arena
The women’s defending champion opens up the action on the main court on Friday as Aryna Sabalenka looks to take her title defence into the second week. Standing in her way is the competent Lesia Tsurenko, who could well put up a fight but it will be a surprise were she to beat the winner of a year ago. When they are done the men’s action will close out the day session as Stefanos Tsitsipas looks to take a step closer to a second successive Melbourne final when he goes up against the French player Luca van Assche.
It will be the men who open up the night session on Friday night too. That sees the defending champion Novak Djokovic looking to make progress when he takes on Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Djokovic has been pushed closer than expected in both matches so far which will give him some confidence. When they are done the former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova will close out the action on the main court when she faces the home qualifier Storm Hunter.
Margaret Court Arena
We have a very tasty schedule over on the Margaret Court Arena on Friday as well with the day session headlined by two of the brightest young stars in the game as Jannik Sinner starts off the play when he meets another seeded player in the form of Sebastian Baez. Two American women will close out the day action when the US Open champion Coco Gauff looks to make it into the second week of another slam when she meets her compatriot Alycia Parks.
The women are back on show to open up the night session as the tenth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia looks to make it into the second week of the tournament when she takes on the teenage star Maria Timofeeva who is in the middle of a breakthrough run in a Grand Slam. Potentially the pick of the men’s matches on Friday concludes the action on Margaret Court Arena when Seb Korda looks to make it into the second week of this tournament for the second year in succession when he goes up against the fifth seed Andrey Rublev.
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John Cain Arena
With the singles matches beginning to become a little more sparse we have three games to enjoy over on the John Cain Arena in Friday with the first of them getting the play underway on the show courts on Friday. That sees the heavy hitting Amanda Anisimova going up against Paula Badosa before Taylor Fritz looks to make progress at the expense of the Hungarian player Fabian Marozsan. The other match has been saved for the night session and it will see the Australian number one Alex de Minaur looking to continue in his home event when he goes up against the Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli.
Best of the Rest
The other five matches take place out on the Kia Arena, the 1573 Arena and Court 3. Most of the singles action on the outside courts come on the Kia Arena where Karen Khachanov will open up the show. He meets Tomas Machac while later in the day two seeds meet as Ben Shelton takes on Adrian Mannarino. The young star Mirra Andreeva will be looking to move into the second week over on Court 3 while Marta Kostyuk will look to back up her win over Elise Mertens on the 1573 Arena.
Betting
There isn’t a huge amount which stands out in either draw on Friday but there is one bet which I can’t avoid and that is for under 18.5 games to be played in the match between Mirra Andreeva and Diane Parry out on Court 3. There is a slight chance of the comedown for Andreeva after her emphatic win over Ons Jabeur on a show court in the previous round but the surroundings on Court 3 is more what she is used to and I do expect the teenage Russian to go a similar job here.
These two met at the French Open last season when Andreeva won 61 62 and I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a similar score here. To be fair to Parry she has had a couple of good wins here but Andreeva warmed up for the tournament with a good run in Brisbane where Liudmila Samsonova was among her victims and she beat Danielle Collins in an exhibition ahead of the event and we saw how well the American was playing in defeat to Iga Swiatek on Thursday. Parry was just 7-16 on a hard court last year and I think the teenager has her covered comfortably here.
Tips
Back M.Andreeva vs D.Parry – Under 18.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Boylesports
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