Australian Open Tips Day Three: Profit from the fact that Mardy looks like a Fish out of water

Australian Open Betting / Ben Caudell / 20 January 2009 /

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Ben Caudell talks us through the reasoning for his tips on day three of the Australian Open, which include a potentially rough ride for defending champ Novak Djokovic and an early exit for Mardy Fish.

Two out of three of yesterday's tips were successful, with both Jurgen Meltzer and Jie Zheng winning easily in straight sets. It was left to Lleyton Hewitt to make it a hat trick of wins for us but unfortunately for us the Aussie, who bizarrely had asked the organisers to change his match from an evening time to a day time slot, eventually succumbed to Fernado Gonzalez's power play in the fifth set.

There are now only six Australians left in both the men's and women's tournament. I can't see many of the six reaching the third round with potentially difficult matches for the majority of them though the one player to look out for is the 16 year old Bernard Tomic.

Tomic won the boys event at the 2008 Australian Open and is on a bit of a high, having beat Potito Starace on the opening day at this year's event. He now plays Gilles Muller who will no doubt be a little exhausted after his five hour marathon, a 16-14 final set thriller against Feliciano Lopez. This match will played on the Rod Laver Arena at approx 9:30am UK time.

Today's selections

Simone Bolelli v Mardy Fish: The recently married Mardy Fish struggled in his first round match against little known Aussie wildcard Samuel Groth. The big server often starts the season off slowly and will find it tough against Simone Bolleli who dispatched Christof Vliegen in three very close sets. The value is definitely with the talented Bolelli.

Selection: Back Simone Bolelli to win match @ [2.5]

Jeremy Chardy v Novak Djokovic: Novak Djokovic has probably had the worst start to any season he can remember. Having already lost to Ernist Gulbis and Jarkko Nieminen, the value is definitely with star-in-the-making Jeremy Chardy.

Selection: Lay Djokovic @ [1.08] to win match
Lay Djokovic @ [1.62] 3-0

Tsvetana Pironkova v Marion Bartoli: the younger player in Pironkova will be fitter and better adapted to the weather conditions in Melbourne. Marion Bartoli is no quick mover and I can see her collapse against the rising talent of the counter puncher Bulgarian.

Selection: Back Tsvetana Pironkova @ [2.8] to win match

Good Luck

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