The First Round at the Australian Open is going to be concluded on Day 3 at the first Grand Slam of the season.
In the main the majority of the big names and favourites have moved through to the Second Round, although the loss suffered by Nick Kyrgios is a disappointment.
He is clearly not quite back to full health, but it was a concern that Kyrgios has spoken about potentially retiring- he is going to have a strong career in broadcasting circles, but the Aussie is one of the more interesting players to watch on the Tour and it would be a big blow for fans as we look for more characters to take the sport forward.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is the one stand out name eliminated from the tournament and you do have to wonder about the direction his career is taking. Some felt he was a future Grand Slam Champion in the making, although his returning numbers were concerning, but right now Tsitsipas is on a poor run and he will need to get back to the drawing board to find a way to turn things around.
The Tennis Picks continue on Day 3 and the my selections can be seen below as the First Round concludes.
It has been a decent enough start to the tournament for the selections, but we have only moved through two days of a fifteen day event and so there is plenty of work still to do.
Katie Boulter - 4.5 games v Rebecca Marino: Over the course of this season, British Number 1 Katie Boulter is going to turn 29 years old and so the time to make a really big impact on the Tour is now.
A decent ending to 2024 means she enters the Australian Open at her career best World Ranking and there will be plenty of support for Katie Boulter from the stands after announcing her engagement to Australian player Alex De Minaur.
Two wins at the United Cup in the warm up to Melbourne will give Boulter some confidence and she also was able to take a set from Iga Swiatek, even if she was ultimately beaten by the current World Number 2. However, Katie Boulter's confidence should not be dented having shown improvement on the hard courts in each of the last few seasons and she should have too much for the veteran facing her in the First Round.
All respect has to be given to Rebecca Marino as the 34 year old continues to just about hold onto a top 100 World Ranking and she remains a competitive player on the Tour. In 2024, Rebecca Marino won 71% of her hard court matches played, which will mean she is going to arrive in Melbourne full of belief as to what she wants to do on the court, but the reality is that the Canadian has played a lot of those matches away from the main Tour level.
To highlight that statement, it should be noted that Rebecca Marino finished 2024 with a 47-19 mark on the hard courts, but that was just 3-4 when playing top 100 Ranked opponents on this surface.
She was able to win just five games in a pretty straight-forward defeat to Emma Raducanu at the BJK Cup at the end of 2024 and Rebecca Marino will be dealing with a tough opponent across the net who will be receiving a huge amount of support from the stands.
Experience means Marino will be used to situations like this, but she will also be aware that her two previous matches against Katie Boulter have ended in relatively easy defeats.
One of those was in Montreal on the hard courts in 2023 and the other on the grass courts in Nottingham in 2024, but on both occasions the match was dominated by Katie Boulter. Rebecca Marino's second serve has been attacked with real positivity by Katie Boulter and the former has not been able to get enough out of her return game in the previous matches to believe this one will be much different.
Emma Navarro - 1.5 games v Peyton Stearns: Two American players meet in the First Round and there will be no secrets between Emma Navarro and Peyton Stearns when they enter the court at the opening Grand Slam of the 2025 season.
Last year was a breakout one for Emma Navarro who will be playing as the World Number 8 in Melbourne having entered the 2024 Australian Open as the World Number 26. She has continued to grow on the Tour having found her feet following a tough introduction, and Emma Navarro had big impacts at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, which will also give her confidence a signifcant boost.
Early losses in Brisbane and Auckland have perhaps contributed to what is a surprising spread, especially as Emma Navarro was suffering with an illness at the back end of the last campaign that meant missing out on a lucrative opportunity to play at the WTA Finals.
Her head to head with Peyton Stearns will give Navarro more confidence, although the sole match between these two compatriots on the hard courts ended in a victory for the narrow underdog.
Peyton Stearns is getting closer and closer to setting a new career high World Ranking and she will certainly be able to achieve that with a big run in Melbourne. She has three wins under her belt from the warm up events for the Australian Open, while the two defeats to Daria Kasatkina and Paula Badosa were in very competitive matches.
There is no doubt that Peyton Stearns is playing well enough to deserve a lot of respect and especially so when you think of the lack of wins Emma Navarro has produced since her run to the US Open Semi Final in September.
It would be a real surprise if this match was to be concluded in straight sets for either player, but Emma Navarro's experience and improvements over the last twelve months still give her a slight edge. Even in a three set win, the higher Ranked American can do enough to cover this mark and make her way through to the Second Round to be played later this week.
MY PICKS: Katie Boulter - 4.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)
Emma Navarro - 1.5 Games @ 1.83 Bet365 (2 Units)
Karen Khachanov - 6.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Gael Monfils-Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard Over 43.5 Games @ 1.83 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Australian Open Update: 2-1, + 1.44 Units (4 Units Staked, + 36% Yield)
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