Australian Open day eight predictions & tennis tips: Expect another Rune success

Free tennis tips, best bets and analysis for day eight of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Monday.

Where to watch

Live on Eurosport, midnight Sunday

Best bets

Holger Rune to beat Andrey Rublev
2pts 4-5 bet365, Hills

Three sets in Donna Vekic v Linda Fruhvirtova
1pt 6-5 bet365

Karolina Pliskova to win 2-0 v Shuai Zhang
1pt 5-4 bet365

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Day eight preview

The fourth round of the Australian Open reaches its conclusion on Monday with Holger Rune and Novak Djokovic looking to cement a spot in the quarter-finals of the men's draw.

The highlight in the women's competition, meanwhile, is a clash between fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka and 12th seed Belinda Bencic.

Andrey Rublev v Holger Rune

Holger Rune has swept aside Filip Krajinovic, Maxime Cressy and Ugo Humbert in straight sets in Melbourne and can pass his toughest test yet against Andrey Rublev in the fourth round.

Rune showed character in his third-round success against Humbert - a tough opponent who had already beaten ASB Classic winner Richard Gasquet in the tournament.

The Dane suffered a scare in the second set of the match when rolling his ankle but he recovered after attention from a physio and looked unfazed by the setback, battling to a 6-4 6-2 7-6 victory.

Rublev has also been going well, beating Dan Evans last time out. But he did not have things all his own way against Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round and trails 1-0 in the head-to-head with Rune, who looks like he wants it more and is a value bet to win.

Donna Vekic v Linda Fruhvirtova

Having reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career aged only 17, Czech starlet Linda Fruhvirtova has been one of the biggest talking points at this year's Australian Open.

At the forefront of what could be another top generation of Czech women players, Fruhvirtova defied the odds to beat compatriot Marketa Vondrousova 7-5 2-6 6-3 in the third round in Melbourne and she can make her fourth-round clash with Donna Vekic competitive.

Vekic is going well down under but she showed vulnerability in her opener against Oksana Selekhmeteva, losing the second set and winning the third only via a tiebreak, and it would be no surprise to see this go the distance.

Karolina Pliskova v Shuai Zhang

China's Shuai Zhang is featuring in the second week of the Australian Open for the first time since making the quarter-finals in 2016 but her campaign could be brought to an abrupt halt by Karolina Pliskova.

Pliskova, seeded 30th, has looked untouchable in Melbourne, winning all of her matches against Xiyu Wang, Yulia Putintseva and Varvara Gracheva in straight sets, having also won two of her three matches at the Adelaide International 2-0.

Pliskova leads the head-to-head between the players 7-0 and can record a comfortable win again.

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