T. Bacsinszky – N. Vikhlyantseva (Thursday 01.15)
Bacsinszky went through a tough period with an injury and it has been hard work coming back. At one point, she lost 10 matches on the trot in 2018. Suddenly though it all started to click for the former Major-semifinalist, she reached a final in September, a semi-final in October before winning a title in November. It was one happy Swiss girl that lifted her first trophy in 2.5 years, so no doubt she is enjoying her tennis.
Her ranking is all the way down to number 145, but she has been top 20 and the way she absolutely blew Kasatkina from the court in the 1st round shows that she is much better than that ranking. Kasatkina was seeded 10 and won a meagre 3 games!
Vikhlyantseva has gone through the qualifiers to get here and has yet to play an opponent ranked higher than 129. That means four wins on the spin. She has not won more than four since September 2016 and she has never done it at WTA-level.
An ordinary Bacsinszky-win returns about 1.45. I am taking a chance that she can win this with 4 games to spare. When you can crush the world’s number 10 by 9 games, one should stand a good chance against number 134.
2 points Bacsinszky to win by -3.5 games at 1.84
This shot from @NVikhlyantseva on break point in the 3rd set was (cc:@lobwinners) #Vikhlyantseva #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/DzOduvHMzS
— Mike (@mrenzaero) January 15, 2019
C. Suarez-Navarro – D. Yastremska (Thursday 07.00)
Suarez-Navarro is one of those players who always seems a bit underestimated and it has often proved worthwhile backing her when she is an outsider in these early stages. I am going with her again tonight, as I find it hard to fathom how number 23 in the world can be rated such an outsider against number 57. At least in this case.
Yastremska beat Stosur in round 1 but that is hardly a sign of was she is capable of. It was her first win at the main level in a Major. In comparison, Suarez-Navarro reached the quarterfinal in Melbourne in both 2016 and 2018.
Has the Spaniard done anything this year before AO 2019? Nothing. Did she do that last year? On the contrary. She arrived in Melbourne with six defeats on the trot before pushing eventual titlist Wozniacki to 3 sets in the quarterfinal.
She is an experienced player with a lot of points to defend in the ranking against a young 18-old who has yet to break through. That makes the price on the Spaniard worth backing.
2 points Suarez-Navarro to win at 2.38
Hey, @AustralianOpen! What do you think about my #10yearschallenge? pic.twitter.com/OBM9HebtWA
— Carla Suarez Navarro (@CarlaSuarezNava) January 16, 2019
Jo Konta – Garbine Muguruza (Thursday 10.00)
What can we expect from Muguruza? No clue. Not a soul in the whole world knows what she is up to. When at her best she blows everyone to bits, including Serena, but she can also lose to anyone and anybody.
What can we expect from Konta? Perhaps not much but I am wondering whether it helps her being out of the limelight with not a whole lot of expectations? Australian Open is the Major where she has her best results reaching a semifinal in 2016 and the quarterfinal the following year.
That meant a high ranking and a huge amount of expectations not least from the British public which she apparently found it very tough to cope with. Now nobody expects much and she is an outsider here in this match which probably suits her much better.
They have played each 3 times previously on 3 different surfaces and Konta leads the h2h 2-1 while all 3 matches went to 3 sets. The most recent encounter was at the US Open 2015, and what is the relevance then? That Konta knows she can push Muguruza and everything helps when you have a strong mentality like the Brit.
I am not sure she can win the encounter but I am betting she can make it close.
1 point Konta to win by +3.5 games at 1.76
#GarbineMuguruza advanced to the second round of the #AustralianOpen on after beating #ZhengSaisai in straight sets pic.twitter.com/inZyygVT8b
— IANS Tweets (@ians_india) January 15, 2019
Best bets:
2 points Bacsinszky to win by -3.5 games at 1.84
2 points Suarez-Navarro to win at 2.38
1 point Konta to win by +3.5 games at 1.76
