The action continues in Melbourne with the last matches of the quarter-finals taking place this Wednesday. Bookmakers Review breaks down the fixtures below and lists the best available odds from green listed bookmakers.
Nadal vs. Raonic
A high-quality contest is expected with Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic fighting for a place in the semi-finals.
Despite starting his campaign in Melbourne with two outstanding performances, Raonic was far from impressive in the following two rounds against Gilles Simon and Roberto Bautista Agut. Besides struggling with some health issues, Milos couldn’t find his best rhythm with the backhand, using the slice very often just to stay in the rallies.
Nadal continues his quest for another Grand Slam title, which seems a very realistic goal after Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray’s elimination. Winning the 3rd round match against Alexander Zverev in the 5th set was a huge boost to Rafael’s confidence since he had lost the previous three matches in the decisive set on a major event.
Even though Raonic won their previous encounter earlier this year in Brisbane, this seems to be a great opportunity for the Spaniard to revenge that loss. Having said that, Nadal is definitely the right play with the 2009 Australian Open champion priced at 3/4 at Pinnacle while Coral offers 5/4 for Raonic’s victory.
Goffin vs. Dimitrov
After his victory over Dominic Thiem in the previous round, David Goffin secured his first career victory over a top 10 opponent in a Grand Slam event. The Belgian served at a very high level throughout the whole match, with Goffin saying that it was the key for him to win the 2nd set when Thiem was playing at an astonishing level.
Grigor Dimitrov remains unbeatable in 2017 with the Bulgarian improving his record to 9 – 0 after his victory over Denis Istomin. Despite his triumph, Dimitrov was very close from dropping the first two sets; however, Istomin couldn’t maintain a competitive level after two epic marathons against Novak Djokovic and Pablo Carreno Busta.
Both players are looking for their first career appearance in the Australian Open semi-finals with the bookmakers giving the edge to Dimitrov. However, Goffin is playing at a superb level, which makes him the valuable player for this contest at 33/20 at 5Dimes while Grigor is available at 57/100 at William Hill. For those who want to take a lower risk, then David’s +4.5 game handicap is the right approach at 18/25 at Pinnacle.
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