Djokovic, Alcaraz Rolling Along At The 2024 Australian Open
Djokovic and Alcaraz Continue to Top the 2024 Australian Open Men's Odds
Rune, American Hopeful Tiafoe Among Early Upset Victims
With a couple of notable exceptions, the top seeds in men’s singles draw at the Australian Open have taken care of business. The 2024 Australian men’s odds have some familiar names still in contention for the first Grand Slam title of 2024.
No. 6 seed Holger Rune and seeded American players Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda were among the contenders who lost early in the tournament.
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, who can’t meet until the final, are the front-runners in the Australian Open odds.
Djokovic is priced at -105 to win a record 11th Australian Open men’s singles title with Alcaraz’s odds moving to +250 after a strong start in Melbourne.
Keep on reading for more on the early progress of the title contenders at the 2024 Australian Open.
The Sequel Topped the Original
Defending champion Novak Djokovic had to work for the win against Alexei Popyrin in the first round of the Australian Open draw.
It was a different deal in his second match as he had a rather routine 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 win over No. 30 seed Tomas Etcheverry.
Considering what happened during and after Djokovic’s win over American Ben Shelton at the US Open when Djokovic questioned Shelton’s on-court antics, plenty of those who bet online were anxiously awaiting their third-round showdown.
However, that rematch will have to wait after No. 20 seed Adrian Mannarino took out No. 16 seed Shelton in a memorable five-set match to set up a showdown with Djokovic.
Tough Draws For Americans
If Djokovic takes care of business against Mannarino, he will face the winner of a much-anticipated Round of 16 clash between American Taylor Fritz, the No. 12 seed and No. 7 seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Fritz did lose the first set to Fabian Marozsan in his most recent match but other than that it has been clear sailing. Fritz is priced at +10000 to reach the final according to the 2024 Australian Open men’s odds.
Tsitsipas has struggled in recent Grand Slams. He currently has +4000 odds to win the Australian Open.
Another seeded American, Sebastian Korda, was eliminated by No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev while 14th-seeded Tommy Paul likely would have to deal with No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz if he gets into the fourth round.
Frances Tiafoe, the No. 17 seed, was thought to have a more reasonable draw than some of the other top Americans. However, he was upset in three sets by Tomas Machac.
Alex Michelsen has to deal No. 6 seed Alexander Zverev (+2200 to win the Australian Open) in the third round.
A Big Hitter Is Gone
Some wondered if Holger Rune was ready to make a deep run in Melbourne this year.
The answer is a resounding no as the No. 8 seeded Rune fell to wild card Arthur Cazaux in four sets after needing four sets to dispatch of Yoshihito Nishioka in his opening match.
Rune was the only top-10 seed who failed to advance to the Round of 32.
Nicolas Jarry and Alexander Bublik were the only seeded tennis players to fall in the first round of the men’s singles draw as the upsets that happened early in the women’s draw did not carry over to the men’s side.
Medvedev Finishes Strong
Daniil Medvedev lost two of the first three sets against Emil Ruusuvuori. He dropped just one point in the fourth-set tiebreaker and then rolled 6-0 in the decisive fifth set to avoid an early exit from the Australian Open.
Next up for Medvedev is dangerous Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. Auger-Aliassime is pretty undervalued at +12500 in the Australian Open men’s singles outrights.
No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz has had an easier time as he has dropped just one set in the first two matches.
Who’s Up Next?
One of the more intriguing Round of 32 matches coming up when looking at the ATP tennis lineup has Hubert Hurkacz priced at -170 to defeat Ugo Humbert with the game total set at 41.5.
American Tommy Paul comes in at -260 against Miomir Kecmanovic.
Medvedev is a strong favorite at -550 to eliminate Auger-Aliassime while Zverev (-600) is favored to end Michelsen’s run in Melbourne.
Can Cameron Norrie (+210) pull off an upset against highly regarded Casper Ruud?
Is Sinner Ready to Crash the Party?
No. 4 seed Jannik Sinner has the best odds of any player not named Djokovic or Alcaraz to win the Australian Open.
He has looked the part of a player priced at +275 to reach the final and +400 to win the title in the 2024 Australian Open men’s odds after a pair of straight-set wins.
Sinner joined Alex de Minaur, Nuno Borges, Etcheverry and Machac as the only players not to drop a set in the first round rounds.
Sinner while de Minaur made it another straight-set win in the Round of 32 as the home crowd has to be getting fired up at the way the Australian star is playing.
After Sinner, the other players viewed as contenders include Medvedev (+800), Alexander Zverev (+2200), de Minaur (+2800), and Grigor Dimitrov (+2800).
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