Betting tips / Ben Caudell / 17 January 2012 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

Aided by the stats, Ben Caudell predicts a day of mixed fortunes for some of the bigger names on Day Two of the Australian Open.

Four Reasons to Lay Tsonga 3-0 @ [1.60] v Denis Istomin

•French superstar Tsonga has lost at least one set in three of his five first round matches at the Australian Open.

•The number six seed lost his two Australian Open warm-up matches at the Kooyong exhibition event to Jurgen Melzer and Kei Nishikori and has surprisingly won only 50% of his last ten matches on hard-courts.

•Istomin is on a good run of form, having gone through six rounds, including qualifying at the Sydney Open to reach the semi-finals. On his way he defeated Richard Gasquet at the quarter-final stage.

•The Uzbekistan number one has triumphed in six of his last seven matches on hard-courts, six of seven in Australia and five of his last six against big servers. The 25 year-old also has five hard-court challenger tournament victories to his name in 2011 and will prove to be a tough first round test for the jet-lagged Tsonga.


Four Reasons to back Maria Kirilenko @ [1.95] to defeat Jarmila Gajdosova

•Kirilenko happens to be ranked six places above home favourite Gajdosova at twenty-eight in the WTA World Rankings.

•The Russian holds a far superior surface rating, match rating and predicted chance of winning (75%)

•Kirilenko has won six of her last seven matches priced as a favourite; Gajdosova has lost six in a row at the Australian Open.

•Twenty seven seed Kirilenko has decent form on the hard-courts reaching the quarter finals of two premier events, Beijing and Tokyo, the semi-final of Gangzhou and the US Open fourth round. She has also compiled wins over Samantha Stosur, Ana Ivanovic and Julia Goerges in 2011, furthermore she enjoys playing in Melbourne where she reached the fourth round in 2008 and the quarter final stage in 2010.