Australian Open 2019 Preview – January 19th, 2019 at 1:30 am
Elise Mertens was one of the quiet outside chances coming into the Australian Open and she finds herself in the third round taking on the tough challenge of Madison Keys. Both players will have known from the start that this was a strong probability of a matchup for the third round. There really doesn’t look too much to choose between them.
Elise Mertens v Madison Keys odds*
Madison Keys 4/6
Elise Mertens 6/5
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 17th, 2019 at 10:52 pm)
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This is a pretty high profile third round match up to come at Melbourne Park. Mertens, who is seeded 12th for the tournament took a good win over Margarita Gasparyan in the second round which followed a comfortable win in the first round over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Mertens was out early this season at the Brisbane International but suffered a first-round loss there in a high profile contest against 6th seed Kiki Bertens.
So Mertens went straight back out and took part in the Sydney International where she reach the quarterfinals, losing there to Ashleigh Barty. You may remember that Mertens caused quite the stir last season at the Australian Open as she reached the semifinals in what was her debut in the main draw of the Grand Slam. So that was a big return for her and it puts pressure on her for this renewal, but it was a run which should have given her a great deal of confidence.
The 23-year-old is one of the up and coming stars of the WTA but she does run into a difficult opponent in his one. Madison Keys, who has won three WTA titles in her career (compared to the four that Mertens has taken) has had an easy run so far to the third round. In the second round, she took a straight sets win over Russia’s Anastasia Potapova to move through. That was after a straight sets victory in her opening match too.
Despite being the same age as Mertens, Keys has an extensive singles career at the Australian Open compared to her Belgian counterpart. Keys first made her appearance in 2012 and this is her seventh appearance in the main draw. Her best effort was a semi-final appearance in 2015 and then she reached the quarterfinals of last season’s campaign.
Last season she reached the semis of both the French Open and the US Open too. There has only been the one previous meeting between the two players. That happened at the 2017 US Open. Keys took the victory in straight sets in the opening round. That was the platform on which she built a run to the final at Flushing Meadows.
Prediction
This is such a difficult match to call. They are very similar in terms of standards and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see this one go all the way to three sets. However, shading it for us is the record at the Australian Open and the form last year in the Slams of Keys. She can turn it on it seems at the biggest of events. Keys to win outright at 4/6 is good enough here* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 17th, 2019 at 10:52 pm)
