Lisicki beating Wozniacki leads 25/1 Australian Open accumulator
Published:Caroline Wozniacki has fallen at the first hurdle in each of her last two Grand Slam appearances and there is a large possibility of lightning striking for a third time when she faces Sabine Lisicki.
The former world number one is not in the greatest recent form either, with defeats in 2013 against Ksenia Pervak and Svetlana Kuznetsova, both of whom are below spot 70 in the WTA rankings.
Lisicki will present a far sterner challenge than this pair and her power has proved too much for Wozniacki in their last two meetings, which have been won in straight sets.
The German ended 2012 woefully, but showed signs in Brisbane recently that she has ironed out some of the creases.
Our other riskiest selection in our 25/1 Australian Open first round accumulator is Daniel Brands, who is over 90 places below Martin Klizan in the ATP rankings.
However, he has won nine of his ten matches this year, all on hard courts, and can count talented French pair Gael Monfils and Jeremy Chardy among his victims.
Klizan has lost five on the bounce.
Elsewhere in the men’s draw, it is about time that Lukas Rosol stepped away from the shadow of his Wimbledon victory over Rafael Nadal and embarked on another Grand Slam run.
He faces Britain’s Jamie Baker first and is expected to come through in relatively comfortable fashion.
Frenchman Josselin Ouanna failed to play a single ATP hard court event last year, which does not bode well for his talents on the surface and Alejandro Falla can build on reaching the third round in Australia 12 months ago.
Finally, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez holds a 2-0 head-to-head record over Rajeev Ram, both of which were on hard courts.
In the women’s draw alongside Lisicki, Christina McHale pushed Na Li close in Sydney after suffering from illness and a repeat of this display will be too much for Yulia Putintseva.
Meanwhile, Bojana Jovanovski defeated Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor in straight sets only last week in Hobart and there is nothing to suggest that she will lose in an immediate rematch.
Australian Open selections
Lukas Rosol to beat Jamie Baker @ 3/10
Bojana Jovanovski to beat Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor @ 3/10
Alejandro Falla to beat Josselin Ouanna @ 4/11
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to beat Rajeev Ram @ 4/9
Christina McHale to beat Yulia Putintseva @ 8/15
Daniel Brands to beat Martin Klizan @ 5/6
Sabine Lisicki to beat Caroline Wozniacki @ 13/8
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
