The first week of the Australian Open draws to a close on Saturday when the third round concludes out in Melbourne on a day where we look destined to get some excellent tennis to enjoy through the night in the UK.
We are beginning to see some shocks coming along in the competition now and the big names on show on Saturday, and there are plenty of them, will be on their toes as a result of that to avoid bowing out of the competition.
Rod Laver Arena
As has been the case all week, we have two matches in the day session and two more in the night on the Rod Laver Arena on Saturday and we begin with the one remaining British woman left in the competition when Emma Raducanu takes on the world number two Iga Swiatek in a high profile match. When they are done the Australian number one Alex de Minaur will look to make it into the second week when he meets Francisco Cerundolo. The defending champion Jannik Sinner opens up the night session when he faces Marcos Giron before two powerful American players meet when Madison Keys faces Danielle Collins.
Margaret Court Arena
Another powerful American player takes to the Margaret Court Arena first up on Saturday when Emma Navarro takes on Ons Jabeur in a good match. As with the Rod Laver Arena there is only men’s match in the day session and it sees another American player taking to the court when Taylor Fritz goes up against Gael Monfils. The night session begins with the women when the French Open and Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini faces off against Elina Svitolina before the action on the second court closes out with a tasty looking match between the exciting Holger Rune and the talented Miomir Kecmanovic.
John Cain Arena
We only have three singles matches over on the John Cain Arena on Saturday and they are all a part of the day session. Karen Khachanov has the honour of getting the play started. He meets Alex Michelsen who is enjoying a decent week having knocked off Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening round. Two seeded players take to the court after them when Elena Rybakina looks to move into the second week in Melbourne once again when she goes up against Dayana Yastremska before two exciting young stars collide to round off the action on this court when Ben Shelton takes on Lorenzo Musetti in a potentially lengthy match.
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Best of the Rest
The remaining singles matches are mixed in with doubles and junior matches on the outside courts with Yulia Putintseva against Daria Kasatkina and Corentin Moutet facing Learner Tien over on the Kia Arena while Beatriz Haddad Maia plays Veronika Kudermetova over on the 1573 Arena. Court 3 has the other two singles matches and they see the lucky loser Eva Lys looking to take her second chance into the second week when she faces Jacqueline Cristian before Lorenzo Sonego meets Fabian Marozsan.
Men’s Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets in the men’s draw on Saturday with the first one being the obvious one which is for Corentin Moutet to get the better of Learner Tien. Tien had the best night of his career on Thursday when he got the better of Daniil Medvedev over five sets in a match that lasted near enough five hours and that was after going pretty much four hours in the previous round and playing three matches to qualify for this tournament. Then you have to factor in the comedown of performing in front of a big crowd and now he’ll be on an outside court. He is young but even then all that has to test his mental and physical reserves. Moutet showed that he was hitting the ball well when he got the better of Alexei Popyrin in the opening round and backed that up in the second one. He will be the fresher man without having to deal with a 3am finish in the last round so the Frenchman has to be the bet here.
The other men’s bet that I like is Miomir Kecmanovic to get the better of Hoger Rune. Rune has already gone the distance in this tournament and tends to make hard work of things as a favourite at this level at the minute and that could be music to the ears of Kecmanovic who has just demolished Hubert Hurkacz and now probably has little to lose against a Rune who is in danger of not delivering fully on his talent in the big events. Rune took nearly 3h30 to get rid of Matteo Berrettini in the previous round and you just wonder if his efforts will catch up with him. I think the Serb is much better than his ranking would suggest and he has the tools to get the better of the Dane here.
Women’s Betting
There is just the one for me in the women’s draw and that comes in the form of Beatriz Haddad Maia and Veronika Kudermetova to play something of a marathon match. That is the general modus operandi of the Brazilian ace and it is a little surprising that she is yet to embark on an extended battle so far in this tournament. That might well come here though because Kudermetova looks to be in decent enough touch and isn’t a massive stranger to lengthy battles herself.
Kudermetova was involved in a humdinger with Katie Boulter in the previous round and that showed that her stamina is decent enough. Haddad Maia looks to be over the cramping issues she had at the United Cup so I expect a bit of an all out war in tennis terms here. The game line for this one is 22.5 but if this goes three sets, which it very well could do, then this will be covered barring something very bizarre. Two lengthy sets gets the job done as well though so I like the over here.
Tips
Back C.Moutet to beat L.Tien for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfred
Back M.Kecmanovic to beat H.Rune for a 3/10 stake at 2.80 with Unibet
Back B.Haddad Maia vs V.Kudermetova – Over 22.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
