Taking a quick glance at the Quarter Final lineup at the Australian Open will make any Tennis fan pretty excited about the potential for some brilliant matches to conclude the opening Grand Slam of the season.
Top names, some new faces and conditions that offer plenty of challenges should make for some solid tennis and an opening of what could be a really good season on the Tour.
The last couple of days have been tougher for the Tennis Picks, which is never a positive, but hopefully that momentum can swing back on Day 10 and start a strong end to the tournament.
Carlos Alcaraz - 5.5 games v Alex De Minaur: A thumping win over Alexander Bublik has sent a statement out to the rest of the field that Alex De Minaur is determined to end Australia's sixty year wait to have a Men's Champion at their own Grand Slam. There hasn't even been an Australian Men's Finalist since Lleyton Hewitt did that in 2005 and was beaten in four sets by Marat Safin, and Hewitt has been helping Alex De Minaur with any advice he needs.
Before all of that, De Minaur has other milestones to reach- he has never reached any Grand Slam Semi Final and breaking that duck at the Australian Open will mean so much to him.
The level being produced in the tournament has to be hugely encouraging for his fans, but Alex De Minaur has long been developing his game to try and see if that can bridge the gap to the top two players in the world.
In this Quarter Final, the World Number 6 has an opportunity to show how much he has learned when he takes on the top Seed and a player in Carlos Alcaraz who has shown little sign of losing his appetite for more and more Grand Slam successes.
The World Number 1 won the titles in Paris and New York City, but he has never been past the Quarter Final at the Australian Open as Carlos Alcaraz continues to chase a record of becoming the youngest player to ever complete the career Grand Slam.
In each of the last two years, Carlos Alcaraz has fallen at this stage of the Australian Open in four set defeats to Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic- the loss twelve months ago to the Serb will have really hurt considering Djokovic had displayed signs of battling through an injury and was forced to withdraw after a single set of the Semi Final.
All of that is forgotten though considering the successes Carlos Alcaraz has had in the months since that defeat and his hard court pedigree makes him very dangerous.
The numbers may not be as strong as Alex De Minaur's in the four wins produced, but Carlos Alcaraz is very comfortable and still looks like he may have gears to go through.
He will also have no real concerns about a match up against a player he has beaten in all five meetings on the pro Tour, even if there will be plenty of respect for the way Alex De Minaur has been extracting everything from his potential.
Carlos Alcaraz won both hard court meetings, which both took place on indoor courts in 2025, and he was able to break serve four times in each, while dropping serve twice.
As well as the home favourite has been serving this week, Alex De Minaur will recognise that the return player in front of him is more dangerous than most and that is going to be a factor. The pressure only builds when you think of how well Carlos Alcaraz has been serving and an entertaining match should eventually end with the top Seed moving through with enough breaks of serve to cover this spread, even if he is to drop a set.
Alexander Zverev - 1.5 sets v Learner Tien: Both of these players really impressed in comprehensive Fourth Round matches and they should enter this Quarter Final with a lot of confidence.
The experience edge is most definitely on the side of Alexander Zverev, but Learner Tien is growing on the Tour every passing week and is set for another push up the World Rankings. Last year he made the Fourth Round here, but the destruction of three time former Finalist in Melbourne, Daniil Medvedev, has moved the 20 year old American into his first ever Quarter Final at Grand Slam level.
There are going to be nerves on both sides with the feeling that this is a good opportunity for both and these two players split two matches last year.
It was Learner Tien who won the sole hard court match, but Alexander Zverev beat the American at the French Open on a surface that the World Number 3 is going to be more comfortable than the youngster.
The hard courts are a different story and Learner Tien will have taken a lot of confidence from the manner of the victory over Daniil Medvedev.
There have been a couple of matches where the edges have been much tighter between Learner Tien and opponents he has beaten on his way to the Quarter Final, but overall he has looked good in the conditions. The serve is becoming a bit more consistent with 84% of the games played ending in a hold, and that has really allowed Learner Tien to take a grip of return games, where he has a lot of strengths.
Getting the ball back into play and then outworking opponents is the plan and Tien is comfortable with his defensive capabilities on a court.
Of course he will be dealing with a big Alexander Zverev serve and facing an opponent who feels he is as healthy as he has been since reaching the Final in Melbourne twelve months ago. There will be some pressure on Zverev to try and avoid a long match ahead of what could be a Semi Final against the top Seed, but he will also want to avoid being too aggressive and handing the errors over that Learner Tien will want to feast upon.
Alexander Zverev has been serving very big in the tournament with 72% of service points won and 90% of service games ending in a hold.
Some have criticised the World Number 3 for sometimes being a little passive on the court, but he has been returning with real authority in the run to the Quarter Final and that may be key to the outcome of this match.
The younger player is breaking new ground in Melbourne, but it may still be a little too much inexperience to deal with the occasion and that can help Alexander Zverev to come through in four sets.
Aryna Sabalenka - 5.5 games v Iva Jovic: For the thirteenth Grand Slam event in succession, Aryna Sabalenka has worked her way through to the Quarter Final, while she remains on course to compete for the title at the Australian Open for the fourth year in a row.
The top Seed did have an awkward Third Round win, but Aryna Sabalenka was able to control young upstart Victoria Mboko in the Fourth Round, although after blowing a lead in the second set and having to win the match on the Breaker to avoid having to go the distance.
In the main Aryna Sabalenka has to be very happy with the victory over Mboko, who looks like she is going to be competing at the very top of the WTA Tour in years to come.
Now the World Number 1 takes aim at another rising star on the Tour when taking on 18 year old Iva Jovic in the Quarter Final.
There has been plenty of noise about the potential of the 18 year old American, and the rise in the World Rankings over the last twelve months would have caught the eye. Iva Jovic entered the Australian Open as the World Number 27, meaning she was Seeded in the draw, but she is on course for a top 20 Ranking at the end of the event and there is even an opportunity to win the Grand Slam title and finish as a top 10 Ranked player.
All of those positives are almost certainly going to come for Iva Jovic, but the Auckland Finalist will also know that this is a big step in level of opponent. She has upset Jasmine Paolini in the Third Round in Melbourne, but Aryna Sabalenka has proven to be a consistent force on the WTA Tour and remains the favourite to win this title for a third time in four years.
The younger player has been serving very well in the tournament, but it should be noted that outside of the win over Jasmine Paolini, Iva Jovic has not had to face anyone higher than World Number 94 in other three wins. That has contributed to the stronger serving numbers, but anything that is not hitting the right marks in this one will be attacked by Sabalenka, who has been putting a lot of pressure right from the opening return of serve.
Iva Jovic has decent numbers on the return against top 50 Ranked opponents over the last twelve months, but that has slightly dipped against top 20 opponents.
The real issue is that the teenager has not faced Aryna Sabalenka and the power that will be felt from the other side of the court and it took Victoria Mboko a bit of time to become accustomed to that. However, she had been blown away in one set in that Fourth Round loss and Aryna Sabalenka feels capable of covering this spread, even if the match is plenty competitive at times.
MY PICKS: Carlos Alcaraz - 5.5 Games @ 1.66 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Alexander Zverev - 1.5 Sets @ 1.91 Coral (2 Units)
Aryna Sabalenka - 5.5 Games @ 1.95 Coral (2 Units)
Australian Open Update: 30-19, + 9.44 Units (100 Units Staked, + 9.44% Yield)
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