Australian Open Predictions Today: Tennis Picks & Best Bets for Day 9

Ricky Dimon

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Since graduating from Davidson (The College That Stephen Curry Built), I have been writing about sports -- just about any and all you can think of! -- and coaching tennis in Atlanta, GA. Beyond the four major sports, I am an avid tennis fan and cover the ATP Tour on a daily basis. If I'm not busy writing, you can generally find me on a tennis court or traveling the world wherever a sporting event takes me. For Ricky Dimon media enquiries, please email contact@pickswise.com.

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Ben Shelton ML over Casper Ruud (-145)

This should be a favorable matchup for Shelton. From a stylistic standpoint, he is going to pound Ruud’s backhand with his out-wide lefty serve and heavy topspin forehand. Additionally, Shelton has been an absolute force at Grand Slams on a consistent basis. The 23-year-old American reached the Aussie Open semifinals last season and the quarterfinals in 2023 in addition to a semifinal run at the 2023 U.S. Open and a quarterfinal performance at Wimbledon last summer. Ruud — aside from 1 French Open semifinal showing — has cooled off in a big way at majors since finishing runner-up at Roland Garros in 2023. In fact, since the 2022 U.S. Open, his results at non-clay slams are round 2, round 2, round 2, round 3, round 2, round 4, round 2, round 2 and round 2 (and currently round 4 at Melbourne Park). Although Ruud played well in Week 1 Down Under, perhaps no one looked better through 3 rounds than Shelton. The world #7 should prevail without too much trouble on Monday.

Lorenzo Musetti ML over Taylor Fritz (+115)

Fritz and Musetti have squared off on 6 previous occasions and the head-to-head series is tied up 3-3. Musetti has won 3 of the last 4 meetings, and what’s especially concerning for Fritz is that he lost to the Italian at Wimbledon in 2024. Grass is a surface that should give Fritz a big advantage. On a relatively neutral hard court of the Australian Open, the American does not have that extra edge. In fact, the scales should tip in Musetti’s favor even though he is the underdog. Fritz went into 2026 dealing with knee tendinitis and now various other physical problems have cropped up. He was favoring his side during Saturday’s 4-set victory over Stan Wawrinka. Moreover, Musetti has built on an outstanding 2025 campaign with a runner-up effort in Hong Kong (lost to Alexander Bublik) and a victory over a red-hot Tomas Machac in the Aussie Open third round. Even if Fritz is 100 percent (which he isn’t), I’m still backing Musetti.

Parlay: Novak Djokovic ML over Jakub Mensik and Amanda Anisimova -1.5 sets over Xinyu Wang (-102)

Mensik stunned Djokovic in the 2025 Miami Masters 1000 title match and extended the Serb to three sets at the 2024 Shanghai Masters 1000. Unfortunately for the 20-year-old, the Grand Slam version of Djokovic is a whole different beast compared to the Masters 1000 version at this point in his illustrious career. The 24-time slam champ simply goes through the motions at smaller events; all he cares about these days is adding to his Grand Slam count. Unsurprisingly, Djokovic did not lose a single set through his first 3 rounds. Meanwhile, Anisimova owns a 4-1 overall match record in 2026 and all 4 of her victories have come in straight sets. In fact, the world #4 has not surrendered more than 4 games in any of the sets she has won. Whereas Anisimova was a 2-time slam runner-up just last year alone, Wang has never been past round 4 at a major and she lost in the first or second round of all 4 in 2025.