Australian Open day three predictions and tennis betting tips

Free tennis tips, best bets and analysis for day three of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Where to watch

Eurosport 1 & 2, from midnight Tuesday

Best bets

Alex Bolt +2.5 sets v Grigor Dimitrov
1pt 3-4 Betway

Taylor Fritz to beat Reilly Opelka
1pt 8-11 Hills

Alexander Bublik -1.5 sets v Dusan Lajovic
1pt 3-4Betway

Anastasia Potapova to beat Timea Babos
2pts 8-15 general

Bernarda Pera to beat Zarina Diyas
1pt 8-13 bet365

Day three preview

Grigor Dimitrov is no stranger to getting his act together down under and the Bulgarian ousted Marin Cilic in straight sets in his Australian Open curtain-raiser.

Dimitrov could kick on in the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, but he may find improving homeland player Alex Bolt a tougher cookie to pass than many oddsmakers believe.

Bolt has long been a threat to higher-ranked players in his home major, but he looks to be playing some of the best tennis of his career this year.

The wild-card entry opened with a 6-2 6-2 4-6 6-3 victory over the useful and experienced Slovak Norbert Gombos and it would not come as a surprise to see Bolt make a nuisance of himself against Dimitrov.

Bolt is a 6-1 shot to upset the 18th seed, which can be considered. But the safer punting option is probably to back the outsider either with a handicap start of 2.5 sets or to win at least a set - both markets are the same, of course.

Taylor Fritz's clash with his friend and fellow American Reilly Opelka is unlikely to be over quickly given that 27th seed Fritz is never rushed on court and that both are no stranger to long sets that often culminate in tiebreaks.

However, while Fritz's career has been a slow-burner, there's a sign that he is gradually starting to believe that his game is ready to trouble the top brass. The Californian is a superior player to 6ft 11in big-server Opelka, so it would be disappointing were Fritz to come up short against a player he leads 5-1 in their personal series.

Alexander Bublik, who is arguably being underrated by bookmakers, will probably defeat Dusan Lajovic but at 4-9 he looks a little short - a price of 1-2 or better would have been advised.

However, the chance to support the Russian, a first-round victor over Aljaz Bedene, to make light of a 1.5 sets concession is just about acceptable. Lajovic edged out Sergiy Stakhovsky in five sets in his opener.

Timea Babos can be a determined battler when she's on top of her game and that looks the case now, but the Hungarian qualifier is likely to have to give better to Anastasia Potapova in their first career meeting.

Russian Potapova, 19, is one of the best young players in her country and her 6-2 6-1 first-round mauling of Alison Riske, a decent player herself, suggests Babos could be up against it in her second singles outing this week.

Bernarda Pera is a capable performer who has struggled to find her A-game in the last couple of seasons, but the way she saw off 2016 Australian Open queen Angelique Kerber 6-0 6-4 in her Slam opener suggests a good year is in store.

Pera meets Zarina Diyas and while the Kazakh is a handy operator and started with a 6-2 7-5 triumph over Tamara Zidansek, she will do well to deny Pera, who won their only previous meeting 7-6 6-0 in last year's US Open.

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