Ricky Dimon
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Why wait until Monday when you can get the Australian Open started on Sunday? For the second year in a row, the tennis season’s first Grand Slam is getting underway on Sunday instead of Monday – making the tournament 15 days long instead of 14. That is certainly music to the ears of fans and bettors.
We can go ahead and capitalize on this extra-day opportunity while watching the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Qinwen Zheng and Alexander Zverev take the court. Sabalenka beat Zheng in last season’s final, successfully defending her 2023 title at Melbourne Park.
Let’s take a look at the best bets to be made on the Day 1 schedule.
Jiri Lehecka -1.5 sets over Li Tu and Arthur Fils -1.5 sets over Otto Virtanen (-112)
Both Lehecka and Monfils should cruise through their opening matches on Sunday. Lehecka simply loves playing in Australia, as both of his ATP titles have come Down Under. The 23-year-old Czech triumphed last season in Adelaide and lifted the Brisbane trophy this past week. He was also a quarterfinalist at Melbourne Park in 2023. Meanwhile, Fils was one of the ATP Tour’s breakthrough performers in 2025. At 20 years old, the Frenchman climbed to #20 in the world. Virtanen, a 23-year-old Finn ranked #92 in the world, has won only 2 Grand Slam main-draw matches in his career.
Clara Tauson ML over Linda Noskova (-110)
The 2025 sample size is obviously quite small, but all early signs point to Tauson being one of the WTA Tour’s breakout stars this season. She began the 2025 campaign by lifting the trophy in Auckland, where she beat former Australian Open champion and former U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys in the process. On the other hand, Noskova is a modest 1-2 so far this year and heads to Melbourne on a 2-match losing streak. In those 2 setbacks against Mirra Andreeva and Maria Sakkari she did not win more than 3 games in any set.
Jerry Shang ML over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (-122)
Davidovich Fokina won both of their previous head-to-head encounters last spring (1 on a hard court in Miami and 1 on clay in Madrid), but the tide figures to turn at Melbourne Park. Just 19 years old, Shang has already made bid improvements since those 2 losses against Davidovich Fokina. The Chinese left-hander punctuated this past season with his first ATP title in Chengdu and he got his 2025 off to an impressive start with a semifinal performance in Hong Kong. It has been a much different story for Davidovich Fokina of late. The Spaniard is 4-9 in his last 13 main-draw matches dating back to August of 2024. Shang is more than capable of capitalizing on a struggling opponent.
