Quarter final spots are up for grabs in the Australian Open on Sunday as the last 16 of the first major of the year gets underway. We’re now down to just a few matches a day in the singles competition so each match feels more like its own event from here on in so the tournament really does kick start from here.
Saturday saw one sided wins for the likes of Victoria Azarenka, Stan Wawrinka and David Ferrer among others but it is the turn of the top half of each draw to play out on Sunday.
That means we’ll be seeing both number ones Djokovic and Serena in action as well as a fantastic support cast including Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska so we’re set for a fantastic day of tennis.
There are a couple of one sided looking matches in the men’s draw with Djokovic taking on Gilles Simon and Roger Federer up against David Goffin. The latter is the night match on Rod Laver but it would be a big surprise if the tennis legend doesn’t cruise through that contest.
Alongside those matches there are a couple of more interesting contests. The first of those sees a Tomas Berdych who few have spoken about this week taking on the Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut.
Bautista-Agut knocked off the former US Open champion Marin Cilic on Friday but you sense he’ll have to be at his very best against a Czech player who likes it here and apart from one inspired set by Nick Kyrgios has cruised into this last 16 clash.
I fancy Berdych to come through there but I’m on him outright and the handicap lines are all just tight enough for me to leave the match alone from a single betting point of view and just hope he comes through cleanly.
I will get involved in the other match though which actually opens up play on Hisense on Sunday. It sees Jo-Wilfried Tsonga taking on Kei Nishikori where the bookmakers have Nishikori as the favourite to win the match.
Based on what we’ve seen so far in the tournament I’m not so convinced that should be the case and I’m happy to get on the Frenchman here. He has looked very powerful and dominant in this tournament to date and I like what I’ve seen.
In contrast I’m not sure what to make of Nishikori in this tournament so far. Philipp Kohlschreiber was extremely disappointing in their first round clash and had Guillermo Garcia-Lopez not melted with the first set in sight when he served for it their third round clash could have been a lot more difficult than it ended up being for the Japanese number one.
I just sense Tsonga is going the better of these two. He won their last meeting in five sets in the French Open last year and while I wouldn’t be surprised if this one doesn’t go the distance as well I will be surprised if Tsonga isn’t the one advancing to the quarter final.
In the women’s tournament all eyes will be on Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova to see if they can win and set up an eagerly anticipated quarter final.
Along with Radwanska both are expected to ease through on Sunday so there isn’t really any betting potential in those matches.
I was tempted by Daria Gavrilova to beat Carla Suarez-Navarro but I’m convinced the Australian’s tournament will catch up with her at some point. After a marathon match in the previous round it could be here so I’ll leave that alone and stick with Tsonga on Sunday.
Back J-W.Tsonga to beat K.Nishikori for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
