Australian Open Betting / Ben Caudell / 18 January 2010 /

The young Brit had a great 2009 so can she kick-off 2010 with a decent run in Melbourne? Meanwhile, the Polish number one may be on the verge of troubling the world's top 50. Ben Caudell selects the best bets.

Patricia Mayr (AUT) v Katie O'Brien (GBR)
Britain's number two Katie O'Brien played some of the best tennis of her career at last year's Australian Open, winning three rounds of qualifying before losing in the first round to Monica Niculescu. This year the young Brit has made it into the main draw event by breaking into the women's top 100 during a great 2009. She is currently ranked 87 and will progress even further this year with very few points to defend and automatic qualification at Grand Slam events guaranteed. The only way is up for the Yorkshire Lass and she will be well supported at the Australian Open as she has a lot of relatives in Melbourne.

Patricia Mayr, who is more suited to playing on clay, has had a few injuries of late and in December retired from two consecutive ITF events. Plying her trade mainly on the ITF circuit, the Austrian is just 2-4 in Grand Slam events. She lost in the first round of The US Open to Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-2 and suffered a recent defeat in qualifying of the Sydney Open to Vera Dushevina, winning a poultry game in her straight sets defeat.

O'Brien will be keen to join fellow Brit Elena Baltacha in the next round and this is a great opportunity for her to take advantage of a weak opponent. Without wanting to tempt fate, she couldn't have hoped for a better draw.....

Selection: Back Katie O'Brien @ [2.0] to win match

Lukasz Kubot (POL) v Mischa Zverev (GER)
Lukasz Kubot a player I have often tipped to defeat higher ranked players is progressing through the ranks and will have a good 2010. With recent wins over the likes of Andy Roddick, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Ivo Karlovic and Marcos Baghdatis, he has the ability to compete with the top 50. But the problem is that when the finish line is in sight he often tenses up, allowing his opponents to claw themselves back into contention.

I have no doubt that the Polish number one will become tougher mentally this year and here he has a great opportunity to prove himself against a player who is coming into the Australian open on the back of some truly dire results.

Mischa Zverev is currently 1-9 in all matches, he started the year with first round loses against Philipp Oswald ranked 226, and Carsten Ball ranked 126 in the world. He has lost his last nine matches on hard courts and is without a win on hard since March 2009. He has also lost five of six at Grand Slam level and the last six of seven priced as the underdog. This kind of form suggests there is something wrong with the German, either mentally or physically.

Although Zverev has a 2-0 head-to-head series lead over Kubot, I can find limited reasons to oppose the resurgent Pol in this match

Selection: Back Lukasz Kubot @ 1.5 to win match

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