The second day of the Australian Open gets underway in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the defending champion and No.1 seed Novak Djokovic beginning his campaign against the world No.109 Paolo Lorenzi (1/20 Djokovic to win 3-0 in sets). He is up second on the Rod Laver Arena after the completion of Petra Kvitova’s match against Vera Dushevina (Kvitova 1/33 to beat Dushevina). Last year’s winner at SW19 is the pre-tournament favourite here in Melbourne (Kvitova 5/2 to win Australian Open) and she should have no problems dispatching her opponent who is ranked 80 places below her.
The night match at this show court should be an intriguing affair with home favourite and two-time Grand Slam champion, Lleyton Hewitt up against Cedrik-Marcel Stebe; a 21-year old German making his first appearance in the Australian Open (Hewitt 1/4 to beat Stebe). Hewitt has been handed a wildcard into this event after seeing his ranking plummet to No. 181 in the world and he will want to give his fans something to cheer about in a match that should have a very pro-Australian feel to it. Serena Williams will be up after this encounter in what should be a fairly routine match against world No.45 Tamira Paszek (1/25 Serena Williams to beat Paszek).
After seeing five of his British compatriots exit the tournament in the first round on day one, World No.4 Andy Murray will be looking to keep British hopes alive and secure a place in the second round. He is up against the unpredictable American teenager Ryan Harrison, who is ranked at No.77 in the world (Murray 1/25 to beat Harrison). Harrison is known for his volatile temperament on the court and he could become easily frustrated against the unbelievable retrieving skills of Murray, who is so good at forcing his opponents to hit one extra shot.
First Round Battles
In the rest of the day’s play we have some interesting match-ups across most of the side courts as well as the main ones. Andreas Seppi goes up against French world No.18 Richard Gasquet in what should be a good first round match. Seppi is fresh off a quarter-final run in Doha where he took a set off Federer before losing in a tight third set (Seppi 2/1 to beat Gasquet). The enigmatic Ernest Gulbis goes up against another French challenger, Michael Llodra in what should be another fascinating match on Court 11 (Gulbis 8/13 to beat Llodra). Troicki against Ferrero should also be another tight match-up and they are fourth up on Court 18 with the Spanish former world No.1 a slight underdog (Ferrero 7/4 to beat Troicki). The night match on the Magaret Court Arena sees the highly fancied world No.6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga take to the court in what should be a procession of attacking tennis. He is up against the world No.60 Denis Istomin, who has enjoyed a good start to the year reaching the semi-finals in Sydney and the quarters in Brisbane (Tsonga 1/10 to beat Istomin).
Similar Posts:
- 2011 Men’s French Open Tennis Preview
- Roland Garros 2011 Predictions
- Snooker World Championship 2011 Preview
- WGC Accenture Match Play Preview
- Online Betting – Weekly Sports Tips and Preview
