Australian Open Monday tips: back Sinner and Halep to march on

The second week at the Australian Open is underway, with the first of the last-16 matches taking place on Sunday.

These were headlined by Denis Shapovalov overcoming one of the pre-tournament favourites in Alexander Zverev while Rafael Nadal secured safe passage through to the quarter-finals of the Men’s Singles draw.

Meanwhile, the seeds continued to fall on the women’s side of the draw as Victoria Azarenka and perennial Grand Slam disappointment Maria Sakkari were eliminated.

Can similar upsets be expected on Monday?

Sinner to come good

Taylor Fritz will certainly hope so when he takes on Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final last-16 match on the men’s side of the draw. The Greek has been pushed to four sets in each of his previous two matches against weaker opponents, and then won through in five sets at the expense of January-specialist Roberto Bautista Agut.

Tsitsipas is priced at 1.55 to get the win, but the American cannot be discounted at 2.76.

No.27 seed Marin Cilic may be the best hope of an upset victory, though. The 33-year-old squares up against Canadian youngster Felix Auger-Aliassime. Although the North American dismantled Dan Evans in the previous round, he has a 3-0 losing record against Cilic, casting doubt on the value of his 1.74 price. Cilic, meanwhile, can be backed at 2.26.

Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner continues to move through the draw smoothly without too many hiccups. The Italian has dropped only one set in three matches and should be too strong for home favourite Alex de Minaur, against whom he has a 2-0 career record versus. Sinner is on offer at 1.5, while his opponent is at 2.96.

While top-ranked Daniil Medvedev will surely have too much for Maxime Cressy, who is threatening a breakout year, he may well be pushed harder than his 1.05 price suggests. The 24-year-old has been 1.95 to win +7.5 games, which looks good value, especially if he gets off to a strong start.

Halep to march on

Simona Halep is the headline figure in action in the Women’s Singles on Monday. Coming off an injury-hit 2021, she has lost only 12 games in her three matches to date and is deservedly a hot 1.12 favourite to overcome Alize Cornet, who has already conquered Garbine Muguruza in Melbourne.

Halep, who has a 1-3 career record against the Frenchwoman, largely because they have not played since 2015, looks in the zone and should win this one in straight sets, which is on offer at 1.41.

Iga Swiatek is another player to have carved through the draw with no problems thus far. The Pole has never gone beyond the fourth round in Melbourne, but like Halep has dropped only 12 games thus far. Sorana Cirstea should prove a far greater test, with the Romanian having already dumped out seeds Petra Kvitova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

It would not be a great shock for Swiatek to drop her first set of the tournament, with odds of her winning 2-1 priced up at 4.5.

No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, meanwhile, has had to come from behind in her three previous matches to reach the last 16, serving a barrage of double faults along the way. Her power has been enough to get her out of trouble and should do again against Kaia Kanepi, who is enjoying a career-best run in Australia.

Sabalenka is priced at 1.37 to win this one, though did lose in three in their only previous meeting, also on Australian hard courts.

Finally, the encounter between Danielle Collins and Elise Mertens promises to be a tough one to call. Collins is 1.77 favourite but both players are former semi-finalists in Australia, while their career matches are split 1-1. Mertens has negotiated her three matches without a hitch, and at 2.24 marginally represents the better value.

Recommended bets

Jannik Sinner to beat Alex de Minaur @ 1.5
Simona Halep to beat Alize Cornet 2-0 @ 1.41