The 2024 Australian Open, the first of four grand slams on the tennis calendar, is heading into the second week of action and there has already been some incredible matches and major upsets. While the men’s draw has largely gone as expected, the women’s draw is wide open with just eight of the top-20 players still in contention.
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First Week Recap
The biggest upset in the first round – and easily the match of the tournament – saw Anna Blinkova defeat third seed Elena Rybakina in a dramatic three-set affair that featured a 42-point tiebreak in the third set. This set the record for longest tiebreak in a women’s grand slam match. Fifth seed Jessica Pegula, sixth seed Ons Jabeur, and eight seed Maria Sakkari all lost in the second round. Mirra Andreeva, a 16-year-old Russian sensation, beat Jabeur and and won her third-round match against Diane Parry.
In contrast, nine of the top-10 men’s players and 16 of the top-20 are still in contention heading into Day 7 of competition on Friday overnight. Novak Djokovic has dropped a couple of sets but is nonetheless looking like the favorite, although Jannik Sinner, the fourth seed, is also playing well and hasn’t dropped a set yet.
Weekend Betting Matchups
Daniil Medvedv (-525) vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime (+420)
Felix Auger-Aliassime is a player who many projected to have grand slam success by this point in his career, yet he has just one semi-final appearance and his best result in Australia is a quarter-final appearance in 2022. He’s playing great tennis through his first two matches in Melbourne, but now faces Daniil Medvedev, who he is 0-6 against.
It’s worth noting, however, that Auger-Aliassime went five sets with Medvedev in the 2022 Australian Open quarter-finals and will be motivated to avenge that loss. He’s simply too good, albeit inconsistent, to keep losing to Medvedev.
Casper Ruud (-255) vs. Cameron Norrie (+215)
Casper Ruud takes on Cameron Norrie in one of the most anticipated third-round matches in the men’s draw. Ruud is 3-0 in three career matches against Norrie, but this is another match with decent upset potential as Norrie is the slightly better hard courts player. He’s also coming off of a momentum-building five-set win over Giulio Zeppieri in which he trailed 2-0.
Viktoria Azarenka (+114) vs. Jelena Ostapenko (-134)
Viktoria Azarenka is 3-0 in three career matches against Jelena Ostapenko and two of those victories have been on hard courts. She even beat Ostapenko in three sets two weeks ago at the Brisbane Internation. However, there’s a lot more to consider for this matchup.
Ostapenko is 9-1 in her last 10 matches, winning the Adelaide International before the Open with wins over Daria Kasatkina, Caroline Garcia, and Ekaterina Alexandrova. She’s also higher ranked than Azarenka and has spent nearly 1 hour and 30 minutes less time on court than Azarenka in Melbourne. Ostapenko should prevail in a close, three-set match.
Aryna Sabalenka (-650) vs. Amanda Anisimova (+475)
If there’s ever a matchup with strong upset potential in the women’s draw this weekend it’s Sabalenka vs. Amanda Anisimova. Despite being a major betting underdog, Anisimova is 4-1 in five career matches against Sabalenka and even has a win over her in the 2019 Australian Open. Anisimova is also playing at an elite level in her return to tennis after a six-month absence. She hasn’t dropped a set in her three victories.
Sabalenka, the defending champion, won’t go down easy, however, as she has lost just six games in three matches and is coming off a remarkable performance in a 6-0, 6-0 win over Lesia Tsurenko. You can bet on this tournament at one of our favorite tennis bookmakers.
