Australian Open tennis: day seven match betting previews, free tips & TV details
Diego Schwartzman may give Novak Djokovic a decent test
Free tennis tips, best bets and analysis for day seven of the Australian Open.
When to watch
Eurosport 1 & 2, 8am & midnight Saturday
Best bets
Diego Schwartzman +9.5 games v Novak Djokovic
1pt 8-13 Betfair, Paddy Power
Cori Gauff to beat Sofia Kenin
1pt 6-5 general
Day seven preview
Roger Federer progressed to the second week of the Australian Open after surviving a huge scare against John Millman on day five of the season's first major.
Millman led Federer 8-4 in the first-to-ten-points deciding-set tiebreak, but came up short in sight of the winning post with the Swiss veteran on the ropes.
The 38-year-old legend, who pipped Millman 4-6 7-6 6-4 4-6 7-6, will next meet his fourth unseeded rival at Melbourne Park, Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, who thrashed Tommy Paul in straight sets, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Federer leads Fucsovics 2-0 in their personal series, having won all five sets the pair have contested, and the third seed is even-money to progress in three sets in their third clash.
However, while Federer should find a way through, there may be better value elsewhere on day seven.
Diego Schwartzman v Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic has taken fast-court and, in particular, hard-court tennis to new levels in recent years, adding to the fine work of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
The super Serb will be well aware of the need to land an eighth Australian Open crown and keep up the pressure on Federer and Nadal in terms of Grand Slam singles titles won.
Djokovic is likely to make light work of Diego Schwartzman in the same way he did Japanese opponents Tatsuma Ito and Yoshihito Nishioka in rounds two and three.
But while the second seed is still the man to beat down under, it may be worth taking a chance that the diminutive Schwartzman, who is possibly, to borrow a boxing phrase, the best pound-for-pound player on the men's tour, could cause more problems for the title favourite than oddsmakers expect.
The 27-year-old Argentinian, who stands only 5ft 6in tall, has not dropped a set in seeing off Lloyd Harris, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Dusan Lajovic. But while there is little surprise in Schwartzman having played only nine sets in the Melbourne singles, they were decent opponents and the 14th seed may now be ready to provide Djokovic with a decent test in the favourite’s preferred major.
At 32, Djokovic may not be quite as dominant against his chief rivals as he once was and in receipt of a hefty start of 9.5 games on the handicap, Schwartzman could be capable of making a nuisance of himself.
Cori Gauff v Sofia Kenin
Cori Gauff rubber-stamped her claims to be the finest young talent tennis has ever seen when dumping 2019 champion Naomi Osaka out of the singles 6-3 6-4 in round three.
The American’s reward is a date with her fellow American Sofia Kenin. And while continuing her title charge in Victoria is unlikely to be an easy task – Gauff was cut to 16-1 for the title after ousting former world number one Osaka – the 15-year-old is good enough to dig out a first triumph over Kenin.
Fourteenth seed Kenin, 21, also achieved a fine result when beating the dangerous Shuai Zhang 7-5 7-6, but she may have to play second fiddle if Gauff has collected herself after her latest win.
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