The quarter finals of the Australian Open conclude on Wednesday when the other four matches take place on a day where we get to see the line-up for the two sets of semi-finals in the singles draws completed in the first Grand Slam of the year.
We have some form horses and some big names doing battle on the Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday with some dark horses mixed in between so we should be in for a competitive day of tennis on the main court in Melbourne.
Day Session
Madison Keys vs Elina Svitolina
The opening quarter final of the day on Wednesday sees two players who are veterans of reaching this stage of a Grand Slam battling it out when Madison Keys looks to extend her winning run when she goes up against Elina Svitolina for a semi-final spot.
These two women have played some good tennis in the lead up to this quarter final. Svitolina took care of Jasmine Paolini a couple of rounds ago to open up her bit of the draw while Keys downed both Danielle Collins and Elena Rybakina to make her way to this quarter final clash. With both women playing well we should probably expect a tight tussle here, particularly when you consider both have been three sets in the tournament already. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one goes the distance either but I’m hoping that Keys comes out on top because I’m on her outright. That will do me for interest here.
Emma Navarro vs Iga Swiatek
The last of the quarter finals in the women’s side of the tournament sees Iga Swiatek looking to make a Melbourne semi-final for just the second time when she takes on the improving Emma Navarro who will be going in search of a second straight Grand Slam last four appearance.
Swiatek has looked a lot more dominant in this tournament than ever before and has made it into this quarter final for the loss of no sets and just 11 games, seven of which were in the opening round. That represents the size of the task for Navarro, not that the American backs down from a challenge. Navarro reached the semi-final in New York in September so she knows she can do it but whereas the longest Swiatek has been on court is 1h21, Navarro has needed a deciding set in every match and the shortest time she has been on court is 2h3 which would be a concern. At least we know she is battle hardened though and she has seen off two solid operators in Ons Jabeur and Daria Kasatkina whereas Swiatek is yet to face a seed in the event. That gives me encouragement that the American can lay some sort of competition down to the world number two and I hope she does that and more as Navarro is my second outright bet. If she can find a way through here it opens the door for a payout of some kind later in the week so I’ll ride that and avoid betting on this one.
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Ben Shelton vs Lorenzo Sonego
The first men’s quarter final of the day concludes the early session of action and it sees Ben Shelton looking to make it back to a Grand Slam semi-final when he goes up against the inconsistent but potentially dangerous Italian player Lorenzo Sonego.
This will be the biggest day in the life of Sonego with it being the first time he has appeared in a Grand Slam quarter final so we can be assured that he will be giving it his absolute all here but Shelton is slightly more established and may well be the more confident man of the two as a result. Both these men have battled well in the tournament. Sonego has been at least four sets in every match he has played while Shelton would have gone four in the last three matches had Gael Monfils not pulled out after a game of the fourth set in the last round. The game Shelton didn’t go into a fourth set he won 76 75 75 so that was a tight tussle too. I see no reason to expect any different here and with six of the 14 sets Shelton has played going the distance and two more ending 7-5 and Sonego involved in three tiebreaks and three more 7-5 sets, we may only need four sets here for the 39.5 game line to be covered. I think we get those four sets so I like the over here.
Night Session
Jannik Sinner vs Alex de Minaur
There is only one match in the night session on Wednesday and it sees the home star Alex de Minaur completing the set of Grand Slam quarter final appearances when he faces the defending champion and world number one Jannik Sinner.
De Minaur has reached the quarter final of the last four Grand Slams including this one but he didn’t reach the semi-final in any of them and he has his work cut out in this one too because other than home advantage and the crowd being right behind him, he doesn’t have much going for him here. He has faced Sinner on nine previous occasions, lost the lot and won just one of the 21 sets that they have played against each other. If there is a glimmer of hope for de Minaur it is that Sinner looked visibly ill in his win over Holger Rune in the previous round but the heat might have attributed a fair bit to that and conditions will be much more comfortable here. If Sinner is anywhere near 100% it is hard to see beyond him in straight sets here given that 20-1 set record he has against the Australian. De Minaur has done well to get this far but this is the first time in the tournament he would have faced anyone inside the top 30 in the world and I think he gets found out in straight sets as he has in each of the previous quarter finals he has played at this level.
Tips
Back B.Shelton vs L.Sonego – Over 39.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Boylesports
Back it here:
Back J.Sinner to win 3-0 for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Spreadex
