The second day of action on the Melbourne courts is behind us, and just like day one, it has produced exciting and unexpected results. As the field starts to thin down, we’re slowly getting a clearer picture of which tennis players have what it takes to go all the way, but with 11 more days to go, there’s more than enough time for a couple more upsets.
Today we take a look at 2022 Australia Open’s most impressive results from Wednesday, January 19, which players delivered, and who couldn’t step up and have been forced to pack their bags and head back home. Let’s jump right into action so you can continue making your bets against the Australian Open odds.
2022 Australian Open Betting News and Updates | January 19th Edition
Nadal Through To R3
Rafael Nadal made easy work of Yannick Hanfmann on Wednesday, winning the match in straight sets (6-2, 6-3, 6-4). Although the German put up a good fight on Rod Laver Arena, he was no match for the Spaniard, who locked in a comfortable win after two hours and 42 minutes.
Nadal continues his unbeaten season with that win, which is exciting news, knowing that he had to cut short his 2021 campaign with a foot injury. However, despite all the issues the Spaniard had to deal with in 2021, he looks in prime form to win his second Australian Open and first since 2009.
Priced as the third favorite on the 2022 Australian Open outright markets, behind Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev, Nadal is definitely a man to watch as we get deeper into the tournament. And it will be interesting to see how he does in R3.
Nadal’s next opponent is world no.30 Karen Khachanov, who Nadal last met in December 2019 and won in straight sets. Interestingly, Nadal has yet to lose against Karen Khachanov across eight head-to-head meetings and has won all matches, but one (3-1 in 2018) in straight sets.
Another Win For Zverev
On Wednesday, Alexander Zverev locked in his second straight-set win of the tournament when he made it past world no.89 John Millman. As one of the main favorites to compete for the 2022 Australian Open title, Zverev proved once again why he should not be overlooked and made another match look very easy.
Admittedly, Millman took four points in the first two sets, but it never looked like Zverev was not in full control. The German won the series with 6-4, 6-4. 6-0.
Still, playing close sets seems to be Zverev’s specialty this tournament, seeing how there were two tiebreakers in his R1 clash with Daniel Altmaier. The world no.87 made Zverev work hard for the 3-0 win, forcing the current world no.3 to tiebreakers in the first and third set.
Nevertheless, Zverev pulled through in both fixtures and now heads into R3 with two clean victories behind him. Now he needs to get ready for world no.124 Radu Albot, who stunned Aleksandar Vukic (3-0) on Wednesday and reached his career-first R3 in Australia.
Unfortunately, if the ATP betting odds are to be trusted, this could be the end of the road for Albot, who enters the match priced as high as +1400. Still, there is a reason to feel optimistic about the underdog.
In their only head-to-head meeting, in the 2019 U.S. Open, Albot forced Zverev to five sets (2-3), and with the form he has been showing, it’s not outside of the realms of possibility that the 32-year-old Moldavian tennis star can make life a bit tougher for Zverev.
The two will go at it on Friday, at 11:00 a.m. local time (AEDT).