Australian Open Day 1

Let's lead out with Damir Dzumhur in his match with Paolo Lorenzi. The pair met towards the end of last season on the indoor hard courts of St Petersburg, with the Bosnian coming out on top 7-5 7-5. He's the better ranked of the pair (30th v 45th) and all the signs are point us in the direction of another win for the better ranked man.

While it's true he plays his best tennis on clay the same is true of Lorenzi so it shouldn't be a huge handicap in this one. It's possible the market could be getting influenced by Dzumhur's retirement against di Minaur last week, but having watched that match back, it doesn't appear that any injury was at play, and Dzumhur had simply had enough. The key to this match is likely to be the Bosnian's return game, which is much more efficient than his Italian opponent, and we'll comfortable side with Dzumhur in a match the bookies can't make their minds up on. Lets make it up for them.

3pts Dzumhur to beat Lorenzi at 5/6

There has been a little bit of cash for Denis Istomin in the market ahead of his match with Pierre-Hughes Herbert, and we certainly can't fault that.

Istomin has always been at home on hard courts, with a 234-143 winning record on the surface, and is 10-6 against players ranked 50th-100th on the surface over the past two seasons. That compares to a 2-6 record for Herbert on the same metric, who is also 83-58 on hard courts and has never played too often on the surface.

Istomin retirned from Brisbane in the run-up to this event with a hip injury, but it doesn't sound serious enough to put us off a bet, with lots of retirements traditionally occuring in the run up to Melbourne as players try to time their recuperation just right. We also shouldn't forget, it was Istomin who ended this event for Novak Djokovic last season, proving his mantel on the courts.

2.2pts Istomin to beat Herbert at 8/11

There may be more tips to follow as the stats continue to be collated. We'll add them to a new post if there are, and tweet them out.

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