Ricky Dimon
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Why wait until Monday when you can get the Australian Open started on Sunday? That may have been what tournament organizers asked themselves prior to the 2024 edition. In previous years the event began on Monday and lasted 14 days, but now it gets underway on Sunday. First-round action lasts three days and the tournament as a whole will be 15 days long. As for Sunday’s opening festivities, Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Frances Tiafoe, Aryna Sabalenka, and Caroline Wozniacki will be among those taking the court.
Let’s take a look at the best bets to be made on the Day 1 schedule.
Parlay: Frances Tiafoe over Borna Coric and Matteo Arnaldi over Adam Walton (-111)
Tiafoe vs Coric is a marquee matchup on paper, but it should be one-way traffic in the American’s favor. Due to a shoulder injury, Coric has played only 2 matches since the U.S. Open last summer. The Croat has not won a match at a normal tournament (not including the United Cup earlier this month) since Winston-Salem in August. As for Tiafoe, he loves the Grand Slam limelight. He has been to the semifinals and quarterfinals of the last 2 U.S. Opens and advanced to the Australian Open quarters in 2019. Meanwhile, Arnaldi vs Walton should be even more one-sided. Arnaldi has been red hot dating back to last summer; Walton was a nice college player at Tennessee, but he is not ready for primetime on the pro tour.
Dane Sweeny +5 games over Francisco Cerundolo (-115)
There’s no other way to say it: Cerundolo is off to a disastrous start to his 2024 campaign. The 25-year-old Argentine fell to a similarly ice cold Roberto Bautista Agut 7-5, 6-3 in the Hong Kong first round and lost right away at this past week’s Auckland event in even worse fashion — 6-1, 6-1 at the hands of world #79 Alexandre Muller. Will Cerundolo be more motivated on a much bigger stage in Melbourne? Maybe…but maybe not. He has never done much of anything at Grand Slams and he is worse on hard courts compared to clay, for example. Sweeny has far more confidence, having earned his spot in the main draw through qualifying. The 22-year-old Australian has home-court advantage and you know the crowd will be raucous in John Cain Arena. I think Sweeny has a good chance to win this one outright.
Maria Timofeeva over Alize Cornet (-110)
Cornet simply cannot be trusted at this point. The Frenchwoman is 33 years old and played three lower-level ITF tournaments in December, failing to reach the final at any of the stops. The last one ended with a walkover due to injury. Cornet has not yet played a match in 2024, so she heads into Melbourne as a serious question mark. It should also be noted that the veteran compiled a dreadful 5-11 record on outdoor hard courts last season. Meanwhile, Timofeeva already has three wins under her belt at the Aussie Open after successfully qualifying for the main draw. The Russian has great value in a match that is surprisingly considered a toss-up.
