The quarter final line-up at the Australian Open will be finalised on Monday when the remaining round of 16 matches get played out on what looks like another good schedule on the Melbourne show courts.
We saw the two defending champions move into the last eight on Sunday and on Monday it will be the turn of players such as Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz and Elina Svitolina to attempt to join them in the last eight.
Rod Laver Arena
We have a full schedule on the main court on Monday and the day session gets underway with the women on show once again when the former champion Victoria Azarenka looks to make it back into the last eight in Melbourne when she takes on the qualifier Dayana Yastremska, who is coming back to the form she showed a few years ago. When they are done it will be the turn of Daniil Medvedev to try and reach the last eight. Nuno Borges will look to continue his surprise run into the semi-finals.
The night session also begins with the men on show and it will be the Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz who will get the action underway. He was due to meet Tommy Paul in this round of the tournament but instead it will be Miomir Kecmanovic who is on the other side of the net. When those two are finished Qinwen Zheng will look to make it through to the second Grand Slam quarter final of her career having reached the last eight in the US Open last season. Oceane Dodin stands in her way.
Margaret Court Arena
We have two matches to enjoy over on the Margaret Court Arena. As with the action on Sunday, a legends doubles match will open up the show but when that is done Elina Svitolina will look to make it into the last eight when she faces a Linda Noskova who has to guard against the inevitable comedown after beating Iga Swiatek in the last round. The men close out the show on the second court when Alexander Zverev goes in search of another quarter final spot when he faces Cameron Norrie who will be looking to get to that stage of the Australian Open for the first time.
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John Cain Arena
The other two singles matches on Monday come along over on the John Cain Arena but we will have to wait a while for them to begin because we have a couple of doubles matches on there first. When the singles does come along it will be the big serving Hubert Hurkacz who will be looking to make the last eight when he meets the French wildcard Arthur Cazaux who is making full use of his opportunity. Jasmine Paolini has gone under the radar this week and she’ll close out the action on the John Cain Arena when she faces Anna Kalinskaya.
Betting
There isn’t a huge amount that I like in the men’s draw on Monday. All four favourites look like good things and there isn’t enough evidence of an outsider putting up enough of a challenge to get involved in the side markets so I’ll focus my attention on the women’s draw, where in truth there isn’t a huge amount more that interests me. I get that Linda Noskova will be popular as an outsider but there just has to be a comedown from her win over Iga Swiatek so that puts me off.
One bet I do like though is for Jasmine Paolini to get the better of Anna Kalinskaya. Paolini has begun 2024 pretty well having concluded 2023 with a run to the final in Tunisia. She has cruised through the draw here and has been on court less than four hours in total whereas twice Kalinskaya has needed more than two hours to get the job done in her three matches, including 2h47 to beat Sloane Stephens in the last round. In these conditions that can often be the difference. Paolini hasn’t beaten anything yet in terms of quality but in terms of ranking Kalinskaya isn’t a great deal better than what she has faced. Their only previous meeting was on a clay court but the Italian dominated it and she’s shown enough on a hard court at the back end of last year and the start of this one to suggest she is good value at 11/8 in this one.
Tips
Back J.Paolini to beat A.Kalinskaya for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Spreadex
