Aussie Open - Day 3

Diego Sebastian Schwartzman is a hot favourite when he meets Denis Kudla on Day 3, but we think Kudla is not without a chance in this on.

Schwartzman is up to no.19 in the world, but its a rise based predominantly on his clay court form. 80% of his career matches have been on clay and over 85% of his career wins have come on the surface. He actually has a losing record on hard courts (46-50)

He reached the fourth round last year, but prior to that he hasn't enjoyed much success - 2017 was a 2nd round exit and 2016 and 2015 saw him eliminated at the first hurdle.

Kudla is much more comfortable on the surface, and despite relatively little to write home about here either, he is good enough to threaten Schwartzman in this one.

0.5pts Kudla to beat Schwartzman at 3/1

1pt Kudla +5.5 to beat Schwartzman at 11/10 (Ladbrokes)

Jordan Thompson will be cheered on by his home crowd, but it might not be enough to prevent defeat to Andreas Seppi. Seppi reached the final in Sydney and really likes Melbourne - he's reached the fourth round here in three of the last four years - losing to Kyle Edmund, Novak Djokovic, Nick Kyrgios and Stan Wawrinka.

He faces Thompson who beat Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 7-6, 6-3. This is a big step up to how he finished last season though - he has been playing Challenger events (albeit with plenty of success) since the US Open.

Thompson is just 1-4 against players ranked 75th-150th on hard courts over the past 12 months with a combined service/receiving % of just 92%. Seppi by contrast is 5-2 and has a combined 103%. Drop down to players ranked 25-75 and its a similar picture - Thompson is 0-4 and 94% and Seppi is 5-5 with 99% combined rate.

3pts Seppi to beat Thompson at 4/6 (General)

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