Why wait until Monday when you can get the Australian Open started on Sunday? For the third year in a row, the tennis season’s first Grand Slam is getting underway on Sunday instead of Monday – making the tournament 15 days long instead of 14. That is certainly music to the ears of fans and bettors.
We can go ahead and capitalize on this extra-day opportunity while watching the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Emma Raducanu, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev take the court.
Let’s take a look at the best bets to be made on the Day 1 schedule.
Parlay: Jasmine Paolini ML over Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Frances Tiafoe ML over Jason Kubler (-112)
Paolini has been a force at major tournaments of late, as she finished runner-up at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2024. The seventh-ranked Italian has not lost prior to the third round at the Australian Open since 2023. Sasnovich has not reached the third round of any Grand Slam since Roland Garros 4 years ago. Meanwhile, Tiafoe may not be in his best form these days — but he always seems to turn it on at slams. As for Kubler, simply making it to the main draw is a stellar result (although he got a retirement from his opponent in the final round of qualifying). The Aussie will likely be overmatched from start to finish. Both of these matches on Sunday should be straightforward.
Flavio Cobolli -3.5 games over Athur Fery (-115)
This is more of a mismatch than the odds would suggest in a matchup between the world #22 and world #85. Cobolli is coming off an outstanding 2025 season and has lots of momentum after leading Italy to the Davis Cup title at the end of the year. Fery did well to qualify for the Aussie Open main draw, but he has won just a single Grand Slam match in his career — none outside his home slam (Wimbledon). The 23-year-old Brit is a mere 2-4 all time across all tournaments at the ATP level. He spends most of his time at Challengers, so this is a huge step up in competition. Cobolli should cruise.
Francisco Comesana -2.5 games over Patrick Kypson (-120)
Like Cobolli in his matchup, Comesana should be a bigger favorite in this one. The Argentine may be at his best on clay, but he is a fine hard-court player. It could be argued that clay is also Kypson’s best surface even though he is an American, so it’s not like this court is a real advantage him. Kypson earned a wild card in the Australian Open main draw by playing well in Challengers this past fall, but he lost to Michael Mmoh in Hong Kong qualifying and got crushed by Emilio Nava in Auckland qualifying. Those are alarming results, so it’s safe to say that his form from 2025 has not carried over into 2026.
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