Experttennis

Denis and Jo have played only once and it was last season in US Open where Denis won the match in three sets by 6-4 6-4 7-6.To be honest I had my doubts about either taking Denis to cover the spread of +4 games or this one.But I don't think that either of them will manage to win this match here in straight sets.This is a tough matchup for both players, tougher than the odds suggest who give Jo big role of a favorite that isn't that true.I expect them to go to distance in this one.

Ivo Karlovic after over three months of not playing has come into this tournament and defeated the Serbian player Djere in three sets by 7-6 6-4 7-6 .This is a tough draw for him against an excellent baseline player but is an easier draw than it would have been against the American Sock who is a far bigger server than Yuichi is.I don't think that the Japanese player can win this one in straight sets, he isn't that good and will find it very hard to return the serves from Ivo, chances are if we see at least 2 tiebreaks that Ivo will manage to win at least one.I expect for them to go over the spread.

Ryan Harrison and Pablo Cuevas have played only once and it was on clay in Houston where Harrison won the match by 6:3 6:4 and they haven't played since. Now they play again on a slower Australian open surface which should suit Cuevas game a bit more than it will Ryans. Ryan might be the favorite to win the match but all of his wins this season have been really tight and he went to 5 sets in this tournament against Sela. Cuevas is a better player than Dudi is and will manage to take at least a set away from him here if he does so I think that they will cover the spread.

Rafael Nadal is one of the biggest favorites to win the tournament, top player in the world at the moment and this surface in Australia that is a bit slower really suits his game nicely. He plays against the Argentine player Leonardo Mayer who he played 4 times and Leo only won a set from him once. It was last season in US Open in tiebreak first set after which Rafa followed by 6-3 6-1 6-4. All four times they played Rafa covered the spread and after destroying Estrella don't think that he plans to spend too much time on court in this one.

Well, this is a pretty tricky match to anticipate how it will turn out but Feli has played well so far at the start of the season and has a positive record by 6:3 over Sam in their h2h matches and I don't think that Sam will have it easy in this one.Both players are great servers and with it, I think that there is a good chance that we might see them play a tiebreak or two even in this one.Sam is a better returner of the two players but even so he didn't get much playing time this season and lost his only match to Vesely so might need some time to warm up for the season.Over games is the right choice.

This two have never played against each other yet, Chardy hasn't played a single match since Paris loss to Bautista Agut so this one will be his first official match in three months.He took some time off tennis and might be a bit rusty in this match.But even if he is not rusty I don't think that he will have it easy against Tennys who is a good baseline player, has a pretty big serve and likes to play on this type of surface .He can without a doubt push him to distance here and take this one in 4 or 5 sets even.

Nicolas Kicker is in Australian open only because of his good records on claycourt tournaments, he doesn't have the right game for this kind of surface and this is a very tough draw for him in my mind.The Australian is eager to play his best tennis here being one of the local players and needs to take care of a good first round draw against one of the worst players that are in the tournament at the moment on this surface. I think that Jordan will win this one in straight sets but if by some chance he wins a set or so in this one it can still pass with a couple of easy ones by Jordan.Nicolas played two matches this season on hardcourt, both lost in straight sets and only took 12 games total in 4 sets to Fucsovics and Benchetrit.

Even though I think that Denis will win this match and will manage to pass into the next round of the tournament I really doubt that it will happen in straight sets with Stefanos being in very good form at the moment and he should play well enough to take a set here from the Canadian here.Both players are such great servers and really play agressive after it and there for we should not see that many breaks in this one or any blowout sets here and there is a good possibility that we will see a tiebreak or two in this one so this bet also makes a lot of sense here .

Kyle Edmund and Kevin Anderson have played only once against each other and it was last season in France on French Open where they have gone to the max amount of sets with Kevin winning it in the deciding set.Now they play again in the first round of this tournament and I expect another quite thrilling encounter here.Anderson looks as a better option to back for the victory here but Kyle is a player who can take him to distance and trouble him, plus he started this season nicely and will look to continue to build on good plays.Over 38 games it is.

This bet is on Istomin to win the match by 2 games or more difference so there is no concern about it here.He retired to Harrison on the last tournament he played due to hip strain but it was a small injury, nothing too serious to keep him out of this tournament and he should be good and ready for this match.I think that he is in better shape and form at the moment, he is more dependable of the two players from the back of the court and has more variety in his game while Herbert mostly goes to the net on any semi-good ball he plays.Denis will force his backhand side as much as he can and eventually secure the victory here.

I had my doubts about taking this match either over the number of games or to take Istomin as the victor of the match. As you can see I have decided to take both bets here and they look extremely good.Dennis is coming into this tournament with a lot of points to defend, last year he knocked out Dodig, Djokovic, Carreno Busta, and even took a set out of Dimitrov before eventually running out of gas.Pierre as a good server as he is can very much take this match to distance and win at least a set in this match while there is almost no chance for him to win this match in straight sets in my mind.

Ivo hasn't played a single tennis match this season or any since the sprain of the ankle against Tsitsipas in Belgium last season. But with a player that is as cautious as he is about his injuries I really doubt that he would play in this match if he wasn't ready to compete at the highest level.Still, he got a tough draw for the opening round match here against the Serb player Djere who is a much-improved hardcourt player and even though he prefers clay courts can very much play on a high level on this surface as well.I don't think that either of this two players is capable to win the match in straight sets here.

The two young guns will play it out in the first round of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.Denis has played better at the end of the last season while Tsitsipas has entered this season better.These two players have very similar games with big serves, strong forehand wings, and onehanded backhand shots.Movement is better with Denis although Tsitsipas has improved a lot in the offseason in that regard.Still, the slower conditions might suit Dennis a bit more in this match cause he has more variety on his serve and it's not all about big strength on it.I fancy Denis to win the match and there is value in taking him.

Kevin King has been playing some really great tennis this season, not a lot of matches total but he has shown good improvement in his game and serve is doing wonders. This is a good draw for him against a player who isn't as dependable as he is on serve and is a bit on and off.He looks confident and really took it on Ignatik yesterday where he won all of his service games and was better player from the start of the match untill the end of it .there is definitely value on this odds on him to win .

Marach and Pavic are in tremendous form this season. They have played 4 matches total and all four have been victories over good opponents without a lost set on the way.They only continued on the run they made last season and are now victors of 9 of 10 matches played.They play against Duran and Molteni who prefer slower conditions than the tournament in Auckland does offer, with their big serving and overall better returning ability they should be the winners of this match and should win it without a lost set on the way once again .

Christian Harrison is a younger brother of Ryan who never made it quite to the future everyone expected him to have due to plenty of injuries he had on his way after turning pro. Now he has been healthy for last year or so and almost instantly made progress on rankings.This isn't an easy draw against another fellow American player and another big talent for USA tennis but is a draw that he might even like.He is a good returner and a player who can hold his ground in this match .I think that the match will be tight enough to cover this line of games.

Christian Harrison is a younger brother of Ryan who never made it quite to the future everyone expected him to have due to plenty of injuries he had on his way after turning pro. Now he has been healthy for last year or so and almost instantly made progress on rankings.This isn't an easy draw against another fellow American player and another big talent for USA tennis but is a draw that he might even like.He is a good returner and a player who can hold his ground in this match .I think that the match will be tight enough to cover this line of games.

Calvin Hemery is a young and promising player that really played his best tennis at the end of last season with a couple of really good shows on the challenger circuit.Here he plays against a Bosnian native Tomislav Brkic who is primarily a clay court player but has a big serve and a strong forehand wing that can give him some real edge in this match.Hemery isn't really a destroyer, he rarely wins his matches over this line of games and this match being played on a slower Aussie open surface will work more for Brkic than will for Hemery.

Kevin King and Uladzimir Ignatik are both great servers for challenger circuit and even ATP. They really take pride in it and look to make some real edge with it.Both are very aggressive players that don't like too much baseline exchanges and I think that is what this match will be all about.Dont expect too many chances for the returner in this one.This is a very tough encounter here and we might even see three sets but its quite a good chance that they will pass this line even in two sets.

Gilles Simon is undefeated in this season, 5 matches played and all 5 have been wins for him with only one match going to three sets and that one was against the top-seeded Cilic. He really looks good on the court, is quite sharp from baseline and has brought a bit more variety in his game this season with going to the net, occasional drop shot and more variety on serve as well.


He plays against Jared Donaldson, an American player who has quite promising future but I don't see him getting into top 10 players of the world.He is pretty much all about power as all American players are, he can produce brutal winners of both wings on the floor and has pretty strong serve but nothing about his game that makes him go off the charts.

This is kind of a perfect matchup for Gilles, Donaldson can be an unforced errors machine at times and there is no one better in the world in drawing those errors than Gilles.Plus at this moment he is really full of confidence in his game and has shown no hiccups.Odds are rising on Simon at this point but don't think that he will lose the role of a favorite, he is a better player even though he is lower ranked at the moment.


The only thing that might make this one lose is his fatigue, but despite 5 matches, he wasn't in for too many sets, only one match going to distance and he should be good to go here.