First-round competition at the Australian Open wraps up on Tuesday, when both of the defending champions take the court. That’s right – Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys will begin their title defenses in Melbourne. Naomi Osaka, Elena Rybakina and Ben Shelton are also in action.
Let’s take a look at the best bets to be made on the Day 3 schedule at Melbourne Park.
Parlay: Rafael Jodar over Rei Sakamoto and Daria Kasatkina over Nikola Bartunkova (+104)
Jodar is on fire these days. The 19-year-old Spaniard compiled a 2-1 at the NextGen ATP Final in December, which included a very impressive victory over Learner Tien. Now he is sporting a 9-1 record so far in 2026. Experience is the only thing Jodar is lacking — but a fellow 19-year-old will be on the other side of the net in this match. Meanwhile, Kasatkina switched her nationality from Russia to Australia a little more than year ago. As such, she will have plenty of crowd support in Melbourne. The #48 reached the fourth round of the Aussie Open 12 months ago, which surely gives her confidence. Although Kasatkina’s 2026 campaign has been mediocre so far, she scored a nice straight-set defeat of Maria Sakkari in Adelaide. Bartunkova is a 19-year-old ranked #126; she is unlikely to offer a ton of resistance.
Eva Lys ML over Sorana Cirstea (+100)
Lys dominated their only previous encounter 6-3, 6-3 in 2023 even though Cirstea had home-court advantage at a tournament in Romania. Three years later, Lys has improved dramatically. The German has climbed to #39 in the rankings – 2 spots ahead of Cirstea. Lys played well at the United Cup team event earlier this month, defeating Suzan Lamens in straight sets before taking a set off world #2 Iga Swiatek. Cirstea has been in decent form, but the 35-year-old sustained an ankle injury in Adelaide after qualifying for the main draw. She withdrew immediately thereafter, thus heading to Melbourne as a major question mark. Lys would be the choice for me even if Cirstea is 100 percent.
Taylah Preston +1.5 sets over Shaui Zhang (-136)
Zhang is a big favorite in this matchup, but that probably shouldn’t be the case. They just faced each other earlier this month in Brisbane qualifying, where Preston took a set before losing a tight 3-setter. The 20-year-old Aussie bounced back in Hobart, where she qualified for the main draw and crushed Emma Raducanu 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Zhang has not done much so far this season aside from her win over Preston, as the 36-year-old from China lost in the Brisbane first round and also in the opening round of Adelaide qualifying to world #91 Kamilla Rakhimova. With home-court advantage, Preston has a good chance to even win this one outright.
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