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Here's everything you need to know about Tuesday Australian Open Best Bets — our expert betting picks for Monfils vs Etcheverry & Mannarino vs Munar.
The deluge of first round matches may be done, but the tennis will still come fast and furious for another few nights at the Australian Open as the second round will feature a total of 64 matches in two days between the men's and women's singles draws.
Let's take a look at a pair of those contests from the men's draw on Tuesday night.
Find picks for Monfils vs Etcheverry and Mannarino vs Munar in my latest Australian Open best bets.
Match times are subject to change. Read here for advice on viewing Australian Open matches.
Tuesday Australian Open Best Bets
Gael Monfils (-137) vs Tomas Martin Etcheverry (+110)
10:15 p.m. ET
At 37-years old and coming off a season where he appeared to break down in matches physically, I think there was some serious skepticism about the entertaining Frenchman's ability to grind out wins in a best-of-five sets format.
That was fairly evident in the betting markets for his opening round tilt with Yannick Hanfmann – a player that has improved on hard courts, but is still at his best on clay – where he was only a three-game favorite. We're seeing it again in the odds for his match against Etcheverry as well.
Much like Hanfmann, the talented Argentine is certainly improving on hard courts and has plenty of pop in his game to take advantage of quicker surfaces, but I don't think he's at the level of Monfils just yet.
The one advantage he'd have over the veteran would have to be his stamina, but other than that I'm not sure his power is enough to hit through the elite defensive abilities of Monfils, and he's yet to prove much on hard courts to this point.
Monfils has always been excellent across surfaces, can generate plenty of power himself and has the rally tolerance to be just fine in prolonged baseline rallies as well. I have this closer to the -165 range, so am more than happy to snag a -137.
Pick: Monfils ML (-137 via Caesars)
Adrian Mannarino (-345) vs Jaume Munar (+275)
8:30 p.m. ET
Laying 5.5 games in men's tennis can be tough in quicker conditions, but I'm willing to do it in this instance, considering the matchup suits Mannarino perfectly.
Not only is he the much better hard courter, but his solidity from the baseline and willingness to play long rallies should help him against the underpowered Munar. Without at least having an edge in the consistency department, the Spaniard could really struggle to find a path to victory.
In terms of surface preference, Munar has improved on hard courts, but he still lags behind a large percentage of the top-100 in that regard. Mannarino, on the other hand, is at his best on quicker courts and lower-bouncing courts with his flatter hitting and early ball striking. The courts at Melbourne Park fit that description perfectly.
You'd think all this would be baked into the market, but I have trouble getting to a point where this shouldn't be a -6.5 spread. Munar's win against the surging Alexander Shevchenko may be impacting this match's prices, and I'm happy to oppose that overreaction. Shevchenko didn't look like himself in the opening round and it appears as though he may have had issues with illness leading into that first round battle.
I'm going to keep the theme of backing French players going and take Mannarino to win by margin against someone whose performance may not have been as impressive in hindsight as it appeared at the time.
Pick: Mannarino -5.5 games (-120 via DraftKings)
