The Australian Open begins on Sunday with the tournament beginning a day earlier than it has done throughout history for the second time in a bid to free up the schedule to allow for weather issues and lengthy matches which have been a regular feature of this event more and more.
This is a lighter schedule that most days will be this week but despite that we have one of the defending champions on show on a day where some really good players will be taking to the main show courts.
Rod Laver Arena
The beaten finalist of a year ago, Qinwen Zheng, opens up the competition on the main stadium court. She faces the qualifier Anca Todoni for a place in the second round before the day session on Laver is concluded by the former French Open and US Open finalist Casper Ruud. The Norwegian will go up against Jaume Munar for a place in the second round. The night session begins with the defending champion on the women’s side, Aryna Sabalenka, going up against Sloane Stephens in one of the better first round matches. The main court action concludes with Alexander Zverev taking on Lucas Pouille.
Margaret Court Arena
Four matches take place over on the Margaret Court Arena with two coming in the day session and two in the night session. The day session sees the exciting French youngster Arthur Fils looking to make progress when he meets Otto Virtanen before the Olympic silver medallist Donna Vekic takes to the court. She will go up against Diane Parry to round off the day session. The night session begins with the promising Czech star Jiri Lehecka. He meets the home wildcard Li Tu before the final match on this court sees another home wildcard in Daria Saville taking on Anna Blinkova for a spot in the second round.
John Cain Arena
One of the better first round matches in the entire women’s draw will open up the show over on the John Cain Arena as Mirra Andreeva will open up her challenge against Marie Bouzkova. When they are done Kei Nishikori will be back in the Australian Open and he will round off the day session against Thiago Monteiro. Paula Badosa will be given the task of opening up the later session on this court. She has a tricky test against Xinyu Wang to negotiate before Ugo Humbert looks to make it through to the second round at the expense of the qualifier Matteo Gigante.
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Kia Arena
The former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez will get the play underway over on the Kia Arena. She meets the Ukrainian player Yuliia Starodubtseva before Reilly Opelka returns to the Grand Slam scene when he faces a qualifier in the form of Gauthier Onclin. Aleksandar Vukic will look to thrill the home crowds in the match after that when he meets Damir Dzumhur before we conclude a solid looking day on this part of Melbourne Park with Marta Kostyuk going up against Nao Hibino for a spot in the second round.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the opening day with the first one coming in the form of Clara Tauson to continue her good form when she meets Linda Noskova in an appealing first round match. Tauson won the tournament in Auckland last week and although she was a little fortunate to win the final when Naomi Osaka withdrew from the first after the Japanese star had won the first set but in getting to the final the Dane beat Sofia Kenin and Madison Keys, the latter which looks very good given she just won in Adelaide. Noskova has bags of potential but she has only played four matches since the US Open and only won one of them. Defeats to Iga Swiatek and Mirra Andreeva are excusable but the one to Maria Sakkari not quite so. You get the feeling we could see an erratic Noskova and I fancy Tauson to take advantage.
In the men’s draw Alejandro Davidovich Fokina feels like an outsider worth backing. He faces Juncheng Shang, a player who he faced twice last year and beat twice in straight sets and I haven’t seen a huge amount this year that suggests he can’t win this one either. Shang warmed up for the tournament with a few wins in Hong Kong without really beating anyone of note but he withdrew against Kei Nishikori and that is a concern. To be fair, Davidovich Fokina hasn’t done much in the two events he has played but you have to hit the ball solidly to beat Roberto Bautista Agut, which he did in Adelaide, and the loss to Seb Korda doesn’t look bad given that he made the final. ADF clearly has the formula to beat Shang and at the prices I’ll take him to complete a hat trick of wins here.
Tips
Back C.Tauson to beat L.Noskova for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back A.Davidovich Fokina to beat J.Shang for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betway
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