Australian Open tennis: day four matches | predictions and free tips

Free tennis tips, best bets and analysis for day four of the Australian Open.

When to watch

Eurosport 1 & 2, 8am & midnight Wednesday

Best bets

Alexei Popyrin -1.5 sets v Jaume Munar
1pt 7-10 Coral, Ladbrokes
Back this tip with Coral

Catherine Bellis to beat Karolina Muchova
1pt 6-5 general
Back this tip with bet365

Day four preview

Rafael Nadal made no mistake in his Australian Open curtain-raiser and he's unlikely to be kept waiting in his second-round outing against Federico Delbonis.

A clash against Argentinian Davis Cup legend Delbonis is potentially a tougher affair than his 6-2 6-3 6-0 drubbing of Bolivian Hugo Dellien.

Delbonis is an underrated performer who could have achieved more success in his career and he can be considered with a handicap start of 11.5 games.

But in terms of assertiveness and aggression, Nadal is in a different league to Delbonis and, for that reason alone, the Majorcan is likely to post another fairly bloodless victory.

In the women's singles, Briton Harriet Dart’s reward for posting a fine fightback in a 2-6 6-4 7-6 triumph over Japan's Misaki Doi is a date with Wimbledon champion Simona Halep.

The Romanian, seeded fourth at Melbourne Park in her quest for a first hard-court major title, did well to silence Jennifer Brady 7-6 6-1 and Halep should have too much court strength for Dart.

However, the best value on day three could be found in a couple of other matches.

Munar v Popyrin

A number of talented Australian players have tried and failed in the year's first major, but Alexei Popyrin is showing he may have the necessary grit to go deep in the tournament when seeing off Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his first-round outing.

Tsonga, who found only Novak Djokovic too good at Melbourne Park in 2008, was trailing Popyrin 6-7 6-2 6-1 when the Frenchman retired.

And while Popyrin will need to achieve a lot more of the same before he can be called a genuine contender at Grand Slam level, he has plenty of fire in his belly and seems willing to learn.

Popyrin will meet Jaume Munar in the last 64 and while the Majorcan showed promise a couple of years ago, things turned rather flat for him in 2019.

Munar could put his greater experience to good use against Popyrin – he is two and a quarter years older than the Aussie. But in terms of controlled aggression the oddsmakers look to have found the right favourite and Popyrin can oblige in three or four sets.

Bellis v Muchova

Karolina Muchova showed her considerable potential when reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon last summer, but the Czech may find herself on the back foot against resurgent Catherine Bellis.

American Bellis has dropped to 838th in the world after a succession of elbow and wrist injuries but Cici, as she is known, is a seriously talented performer when on her game.

Muchova edged out Kirsten Flipkens in a deciding-set tiebreak in her opener and there was more to like about Bellis's 6-0 6-2 hammering of Tatjana Maria.

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