Garbine Muguruza vs Kiki Bertens – Muguruza to Win @ 8/13
Monday morning, 3am
When Garbine Muguruza won Wimbledon in 2017 and reached world no.1, many proclaimed her to be the next big thing in women’s tennis. However, her form since then has been up and down, and she entered this tournament ranked at 32. She has often struggled to hold her nerve in big matches, losing in the first round of last year’s Wimbledon and US Open. However, those struggles were nowhere to be seen as she cruised to a Round 3 victory over fifth seed Elena Svitolina, winning 6 – 1, 6 – 2 in just over an hour.
Standing in her way is world number 10, Kiki Bertens. Bertens has struggled in previous Grand Slams, making to the quarter-final round just twice in her career and never at one of the hardcourt tournaments. She has yet to drop a set in this year’s tournament, and will certainly give Muguruza a fight, but Muguruza should have enough to get through.
Aug 19, 2018; Mason, OH, USA; Simona Halep (ROU) returns a shot against Kiki Bertens (NED) during the finals in the Western and Southern tennis open at Lindner Family Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
A Kerber vs A Pavlyuchenkova – Pavlyuchenko Match Odds @ 4/5
Monday morning, 6am
Three-time Grand Slam winner and 2016 Australian Open Champion, Angelique Kerber, has struggled with form in recent years. Her preparations for this year’s competition were hampered when she suffered a shock first-round loss to Samantha Stosur at the Brisbane International and was forced to retire due to injury in Adelaide. She has yet to meet a seeded player in this year’s competition, playing a qualifier and a wildcard respectively in the first two rounds, and needed three sets to overcome 102 ranked Camilia Giorgi in round three.
Anastasia Pavlyunchenkova went into this tournament ranked 12 places below Kerber, and has never made it past the quarter finals of a Grand Slam before, but her Round 3 straight sets victory over second seed Karolina Pliskova has made her one to watch. Maybe this will be the year she makes it all the way to the final four.
Andrey Rublev vs Alexander Zverev – Rublev to Win @ 4/5
Monday morning, 7.30am
These young guns have met three times before, with Zverev winning in straight sets on each occasion. However, the Russian has been the form player so far this year.
Rublev has won his last 15 matches in a row, including a victory over South African Lloyd Harris to take home this year’s Adelaide International title. Round 3 saw him knock out 11th seed David Goffin, although he needed four sets and two tie break victories to do so.
Zverev lost all three of his matches at this year’s ATP Cup, losing to Shapovalov, Tsitsipas and De Minaur. However, he has played himself into form throughout the first week of this tournament. He has yet to drop a set and looked in complete control during his third round win over Fernando Verdasco. All winning streaks must come to an end, and Zverev is in a great position to stop Rublev’s roll.
These three bets combined payout at 4/1 on PaddyPower.com
*All odds correct at time of publication
Australian Open Men’s Winner: Djokovic 8/11 | Nadal 9/2 | Federer 7/1