The quarter final line up will be completed at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday when the bottom half of the draws is played across the day.
Sunday was full of drama and mystery with a couple of five set epics and some one-sided matches. Novak Djokovic gave everyone in the men’s draw a glimmer of optimism when he made no less than 100 unforced errors in a five set marathon against Gilles Simon. In the evening Roger Federer stuck a marker down when blowing David Goffin away in no time at all.
Tomas Berdych was the other man to go the distance but he eventually came past Roberto Bautista-Agut to set up a quarter final clash with Roger Federer. Kei Niskikori was a convincing winner against an injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
In the women’s draw Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova set up a mouth-watering quarter final with comfortable wins while Agnieszka Radwanska made it through to another Grand Slam quarter but was made to work very hard in the process.
Monday sees two Brits in action as Andy Murray and Jo Konta go for places in the last eight. There is also a good looking match between Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic to enjoy while David Ferrer and John Isner collide. Victoria Azarenka is also on show on a busy start to the second week.
In truth there isn’t a lot I like in the men’s event. I already have outright bets surrounding Stan Wawrinka and Bernard Tomic while the games line is fairly high in the Isner match and I’ve already been burnt on that this week. I can’t really get a feel for the Monfils match either.
There are a couple of bets I like in the women’s draw though. I’m already on Azarenka outright so I’ll let her play out what will hopefully be a comfortable win and I’ll leave the all German match alone because I expect Kerber to win that one.
Jo Konta’s task to be the first British woman in a Grand Slam quarter final involves beating Ekaterina Makarova. That won’t be an easy task because Makarova has plenty of experience and is playing really well but Konta is playing well too.
Konta has breezed into this last 16 clash with some powerful tennis and good poise in the big moments and that will serve her well here. Although their previous meeting at Eastbourne was one sided I fancy this one might be much closer.
Both look in excellent touch. Makarova’s serve keeps her competitive but the way Konta is hitting the ball is going to make her hard to beat. I’m happy to take over 21.5 games here. A couple of close sets will see that covered and any realistic three set outcome does too so that over looks good to me.
Madison Keys and Shuai Zhang get the evening session match on Laver on Monday and I think the Chinese lady is underrated in this match. In fairness to her I expected her to have run her race so to speak after she beat Simona Halep in the first round so the fact she followed that up with a win over Alize Cornet in the next round was very encouraging.
Zhang is yet to drop a set in the tournament despite facing three pretty dangerous opponents which makes me think the 3.5 games she is getting on the handicap is a little big. Madison Keys has been the distance twice in this tournament already and got lucky in the first set of the other match so she hasn’t convinced.
Prior to her coach collapsing in the stand Ana Ivanovic looked set to complete a win over Keys in the last round and while Zhang isn’t of the level of Ivanovic experience wise she is certainly playing a similar level of tennis. Keys might still come through but I see her being pushed the distance at the very least so I’m with the Chinese player here.
Back J.Konta vs E.Makarova – Over 21.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back S.Zhang (+3.5 games) to beat M.Keys for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with BetVictor
