The 2nd round of the Australian Open gets underway this Wednesday with the players from the top half of the draw in action. Bookmakers Review breaks down the fixtures below and lists the best available odds from green listed bookmakers.
Lacko vs. Sela
Two players with terrific records in Melbourne will fight this Wednesday for a place in the 3rd round – Lukas Lacko and Dudi Sela.
Sela couldn’t ask for a better start of season. After reaching the ATP Chennai semi-finals in the first week of the year, the Israeli won the Canberra Challenger. Dudi kept the good results this week, defeating the world no.38 – Marcel Granollers – in four sets. After reaching the 3rd round in the previous two years, Sela is looking for a third consecutive appearance at that stage of the competition.
Despite his undeniable quality, it’s not easy for Lacko to compete at a consistent level against the best players in the world. Lukas featured a very good victory in the first round, defeating the 26th seed – Albert Ramos-Vinolas – in his first match over a top 50 opponent on Hard Court since July 2014.
This should be a very interesting contest between two players who can produce an outstanding level of tennis. However, not only is Sela the most consistent of the two but he also holds a clear edge on the h2h. Therefore, Dudi deserves to be the clear favourite for this match at 57/100 at Ladbrokes while Pinnacle offers 33/20 for Lacko’s victory.
Khachanov vs. Sock
A high-quality contest is expected between two players known for their fearful forehands – Karen Khachanov and Jack Sock.
Khachanov is one of the most impressive young players on the ATP World Tour. Besides his outstanding forehand, the Russian also owns one of the strongest serves on the tour. Karen’s numbers on his first round match against Adrian Mannarino are a good example of that with Khachanov firing an impressive average of 1.68 aces per service game.
Sock is going through a great moment in his career with the American winning the ASB Classic title last week. After two consecutive defeats in the Australian Open 2nd round, Jack is looking for his first career appearance on the following stage. Looking now to Sock’s campaign so far in Melbourne, the American defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert on his debut by 6 – 4 7 – 6 6 – 3.
The bookmakers expect an easy win from Sock with Ladbrokes offering 9/25 for the American’s victory while Khachanov is available at 13/5 at William Hill. However, this should be a much closer contest than the odds suggest, which makes Karen’s +2.5 Set Handicap at 12/25 at Pinnacle the best betting approach for this match.
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