THE Australian Open is under way and bookies consider it's a two-horse race between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal for the first Grand Slam title of the year.
Djokovic has won the tournament in each of the last three years and is a best 8-11 at bet365 to make it four victories on the spin at the Rod Laver Arena and it's difficult to see past him.
Nadal is 10-3 with Stan James to add to his solitary 2009 triumph while Wimbledon champion Andy Murray is next in the betting at 9-1 with Skybet.
The Scot has twice been runner-up in Melbourne but has played only two competitive matches since returning to action after a back operation so he will do well to even justify his No.4 seeding.
In the women’s event Serena Williams will take all of the beating and despite being odds-on at just 8-11 (Ladbrokes) she’s got to be backed.
Recommended Bet
Nadal v Djokovic final
(2-1, various)
In December 2020 we sadly 
Mr. F, Australia’s own Lleyton Hewitt is a player to keep an eye on in the Aussie Grand Slam.
Hewitt upset Federer at the Brisbane International Final last week
6-1, 4-6, 6-3
and Andy Murray 7-6, 7-6 in an exhibition the other day.
He is pretty much Australia’s only hope with unlucky draws across all singles seeing Australian’s face the likes of Nadal, Federer in the men’s and Williams in the women’s within the first round.
I can only see the Outright Win market where he is at 150/1 odds, which to me is worth a small stake at least. Got a market for him to reach at least semi’s ? :)
Rustychest, I’d really surprised if Hewitt went that far. Sure he beat Federer but he’s a fading force while Murray is just back from injury. Someone will give you a price to make the semis I’m sure – check sites such as oddschecker or betresue to see all markets.
Mr. F, I know it’s a long-shot, but watching his all-around performance I think he is one of the better long-shots. The talk is ‘Hewitt has turned back the clock’ and at those prices I felt it was worth a small punt. I’d be surprised if he went that far too to be honest :)
and Hewitt gets knocked out in the first round… ouch. He was at his best in such a long time and the match went for 4 hours but Seppi’s serves were just too good.
Rustychest, not a huge surprise was it?
Nadal complained about surface being too fast for his liking (faster than previous years) and he has a much harder draw than Djokovic. I can see him slipping long before finals.
More chance of Serena Williams winning the men’s than Lleyton Hewitt! He’s actually quite vulnerable in round 1 vs Seppi who should never be around 4/1!
Very hard to see past djoko here. He’s been backed in accordingly based on his cake walk draw. Only potential banana skin before final looks wawrinka who played him close a few times last year most notably this time last year. My only reservation with djoko is his new coaching appointment! Boric Becker with him for the 1st time. Not sure this is a good fit and I’d highly doubt Becker will still be his coach this time next year!
I think del potro could be a value bet at 10-1, ill have some tips up tonight lads
Remember if the weather is soft it will moist the surface which leads to a higher bounce on the ground, I think serve and heavy top spin are crucial for players in this tornement
MR Fi would agree with ur djoko assessment and will be staking high on him to win this outright . Again spot on with ur view of nadal as the other finalist. Hewitt? Flaming mongrel more chance of a dead dingoes donger winning this rusty chest! !!
Looking at games coming up tonight, gonna try these:
Voskoboeva vs Begu @1.65
McHale vs Chan @1.4
Giorgi vs Sanders @1.45
Peng vs Nara @1.55
Mladenovic(-1.5) vs Voegele @1.62
Muguruza(-1.5) vs Kanepi @1.32
Hanescu(-1.5) vs Gojowczyk @1.85
Belluci vs Reister @1.35
Becker(-1.5) vs Kyrgios @1.55
Zlaja I wouldn’t include murguruza in that, especially on those terrible low odds. She will be tired after tge last 10 games winning the tournament and does not have as much grandslam experience like kanepi. I will be going large on single on for kanepi to win at odds of 4/5
It’s hard finding much value at this stage in the tournament but I’m going for a treble of
Agut 1/3 to win
R Haase 4/6 to win
& Granollers to win 1+ set at 4/5
Pays 3/1 and think it’s got a good chance. Agut had match point against john isner in his last tournament and should be too strong for Smyzchek. Robin hasse will hopefully find some of the form that saw him beat tsonga and reach the final in Basel in October. Granoller beat cilic last time they played on a hard court and with neither in great form I anticipate a tense match with at least 4 sets.
Gilles Simon seems massively overpriced at 7/4 playing the much lower ranked Daniel Brands, forms not been great but I think he’s got a decent chance the longer the match lasts.
Simons 7/4 because he done his ankle in playing in the kooyong exhibition the other day that’s why his price is so big. If he was fit he’d be 1/2 to beat the German choker!
idle u may as well lump high on Simon. If he does not perform he will retire injured and the bet will be void for a refund. Great thing about tennis betting. 10 points on simon to win as if he’s losing he will pull out guaranteed.
I’d be careful with the above strategy as it depends on the bookmaker what they do regards a retirement. Ladbrokes for example only need a point to be played for match to count. Some need a set like betfair and some will just void on a retirement. My advice is check the rules of ur bookie before placing a bet on someone like simon tonight.
With Petra Kvitova and Sara Errani both crashing out on Day One and Angelique Kerber needing three sets to progress, i am looking at the underdogs for some great value on Day Two.
NAP – Magdalena Rybarikova – 5/2 BetVictor
NB – Su-Wei Hsieh – 9/5 BetVictor
OUTSIDER – Francesca Schiavone – 14/5 @ Sportingbet
BONKERS BET – Lourdes Dominguez Lino – 15/1 @ Unibet
Oops, handicaps in my previous post are all ment to be +1.5 and they’re all sets, not points.
I think the early rounds are more predictable and these are my seven ladies for tonight- Cornet- Navarro-McHale-Halep-Stephens-Kuznetsova and Kanepi- all to win. I have resisted the temptation to do set betting and this seven fold pays about 7/1. I think this has a better chance of success than my footy treble when I accidentally picked Villa!
Was unaware of the Simon injury, definitely makes it a bit of a risk. Think previously I’ve seen refunds if a player pulls out before the end of the first set, after that it can be counted as a result!
Simon will. Probably lose in straight sets or or win in 5 sets
I don’t really like betting first round matches because its very hard to judge the surface and things could go either way tbh, Ryan Harrison to win a set against monfils is something I’m looking at even money isn’t too bad
Abbas. Totally agree with what u say about 1st round being hard to bet on. I find in slams in particular the best bets come in 3rd and 4th rnds saints quite possible for a some guys to slip thru a couple of rounds not playing particularly well and then come unstuck. I’ve seen a lot of value bets so far but none I can apply a lot of analysis too. Ur lay of 3 nil monfils is a classic case in point. Wouldn’t put anyone off that but not for me yet. Good luck with ur bets.
Raaljaca, reinvested £400 of yesterdays acca winnings on Novac and Serena double, any thoughts, 4/5 , 4/6
The Tatting is my nap @ 1:45 tomorrow.
.
Lleyton hewitt to win 1st set and match
Feliciano lopez to win 1st set and match
Marin cilic to win 1st set and match
Treble pays just under 2/1 with bet365
ATP MELBOURNE
DUSAN LAJOVIC @ 1.42
BENJAMIN BECKER@ 1.85
BENOIT PAIRE@ 1.38
IGOR SISLING@ 1.50
Well agut and granollers brought their part of yesterday’s treble in but R Haase retiring while 2-1 down killed it. I’m not seeing much value at all tonight. I fancy the youzhny/Mayer and Garcia-Lopez/ Vasselin matches to go over 3 sets and surely Przysiezny should beat Roberts tomorrow. As a treble pays just under 2/1. Agree with comments above that there’s better value and easier betting in the next couple of rounds!
The bets im considering for tomorrow are:
Youzhny to beat Mayer 4/7
Dolgopolov to beat Chardy 4/7
Gulbis to beat Querrey 4/9
Nieminen to best Fognini 1/1
pospisil to beat Ebden 4/11
Prysiezny to beat Roberts 1/2
robredo to beat Benneteau 5/6
And I’ll be taking a shot at Mchale to topple Wozniaki @3/1
The young American is in great form, (though it must be said wozniaki is in good form herself) and has already beaten beaten her twice in 3 meetings.her aggressive game is big enough to get past woz if she plays to her potential
Super single: Robredo @ 5/6
Robredo is mentally far superior to benneteau, who blows very hot and cold. and talking of hot, the projected stifling heat should also play into the spaniards hands. After coming through a tough five setter against rosol the injury concerns over robredo seem to have been appeased. these two haven’t played for over three years, but robredo won both their last two matches, both on hard courts, taking one 6-1 6-2 and was a set up in the other when benneteau retired. he hit some of the form of his life last season and should come through again against an inconsistent, albeit dangerous on his day, opponent x
Great call on Robredo Ad, would have got on that if had seen it in time. Anyone you fancy for tonight?
There are a couple of potential upsets i fancy in the mens draw tonight. the first is Lu Yen-hsun over Grigor Dmitrov. Lu is on a real hot streak having beaten david ferrer amongst others on the way to the final in Aukland last week where he was very unfortunate to lose 7-6 7-6 to the king of serving Isner. Lu smashed Jimmy Wang 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in the first round yesterday and has a real chance of upsetting Dmitrov in the second round. There have always been question marks over the bulgarians powers of endurance, and the heat certainly wont help him. His tends to disappoint in grand slams, so i can see him losing a tight match here. However i would advise fairly small stakes as Dimitrov is the more talented player and if things click quickly with his new coach and new approach then he is very capable of beating Lu on his day.
id recommend small stakes on lu @ 6/4 and bigger stakes on over 3.5 sets @ 4/9- really cannot see anyone taking this 3-0
The other upset i’ll be backing is Nick Kyrgios over Benoit Paire. Paire is a hugely talented player but also one of the most erratic around. Kyrgios is just 18 years old but looks set to make 2014 his breakout year. he has a massive serve, landing 34 aces and winning 90 percent of points behind his first serve against seasoned pro Becker in the first round, and huge groundstrokes to back it up. He is also one of Australias last hopes in the tournament, and the atmosphere should be electric when he takes on Paire, who i expect to eventually give in to the combined efforts of the crowd and his opponent
Kyrgios to win @ 9/4 with william hill, 2/1 with most other firms. As with the above match, i fancy this to go over 3.5 sets too which you can take at 4/7.
for a shorter odds banker ill be including in my accumulators is Prsysiezny over Robert @ 1/2. Robert has already lost once in qualifying and is only still in the draw as a lucky loser. Robert is 33 and 119 in the world. Prsyiezny managed to build some momentum at the tail end of last season, notching big tour wins over the likes of verdasco, fognini and nieminen, while Robert was playing on the challenger circuit.