Quarter Final Day at Australian Open – Henin and Roddick seek Semi Final spots

It’s the first day of the Quarter Finals at the Australian Open Tennis in Melbourne, and the highlight of the day is unquestionably the big evening clash between Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal. That match will grab all of the headlines of the day, and rightly so. It is the big match that everyone has been waiting for, and the first real match between two top competitors that will fire up the already exciting Australian Open even further. But what of the other matches? There is still plenty of good action to follow ahead of the big Murray match which starts at 8am GMT and can be seen via Bet365’s Live Streaming Service, which is free for funded account holders.

Murray to win: 13/15 at Bwin
Nadal to win: 11/10 at Boylesports

The first men’s Quarter Final match is between Andy Roddick and Marin Cilic. American Roddick had a comfortable build up to the tournament, by winning the Brisbane Open. With all due respect, the level of competition wasn’t as high as it could have been there, not when Roddick was the top seed in the tournament. The only other two names which posed a threat were Radek Stepanek and Gael Monfils, but Roddick won the tournament at something of a canter. Roddick took the full five sets to see of Fernando Gonzalez in the Fourth Round of the Australian Open, and had to rely heavily on his service, which was the main tool which got him through. Marin Cilic has shown his ability already, after beating 4th seed, and much fancied Juan Martin del Potro in the Fourth Round. That was also a five set epic, and Cilic, ranked 11th should be evenly matched up against Roddick, if not slight favourite.

Andy Roddick to win: 4/6 at BetFred
Marin Cilic to win: 19/13 at Bwin

In the Women’s Draw, all spotlights will be on Belgian comeback kid, Justine Henin. This is her first major tournament back after coming out of the tennis wilderness of retirement. She lost in the final of her warm up tournament in Brisbane to Kim Clijsters, and has been involved in some great matches in her progress in the Australian Open Grand Slam. She has clearly shown that she has the desire, skill and mettle needed to go on and win the tournament. She has been tested to the limits and come through, and the draw could have been a lot worse for her. She has already dispatched two seeded players from the tournament, namely Elena Dementieva (5th) and Alisa Kleybanova (31st) and now plays Nadia Petrova (19th ) for a spot in the semi finals after beating fellow countrywoman Yanina Wickmayer.

Justine Henin to win: 2/5 at SkyBet
Nadia Petrova to win: 11/5 at Bwin

The second women’s Quarter Final of the day should draw a lot of camera action, as young Russian Maria Kirilenko is in action. The so called new “It Girl” of the women’s tour reached the Quarter Final after he match against Number Two seed Dinara Safina was abandoned due to a injury to Safina. Safina had been one of the strong favourites for the tournament, and was the class act in the quarter of the draw. Her departure has given Kirilenko a chance at her biggest limelight, having never gone beyond the third round at a Grand Slam before. Kirilenko, ranked 58th, plays China’s Julie Zheng, ranked 35th. Zheng reached the fourth round of the Australian Open last year, so this is also new territory for her. If Petrova doesn’t beat Henin, then there will be a non-seeded player reaching the Women’s final from this half of the draw. This half of the draw has lost Kuznetsova (3rd), Kim Clijsters (15th), Elena Dementieva (5th) and Jelena Jankovic. Dinara Safina was the expected winner of this half, but that was not meant to be. The other side of the draw, which contains the Williams sisters is arguably stronger, with Caroline Wozniacki in the picture as well.

Julie Zheng to win: 8/11 at Stan James
Maria Kirilenko to win: 13/10 at Boylesports