Australian Open Quarterfinal Picks: Jessica Pegula vs Victoria Azarenka, Sebastian Korda vs Karen Khachanov

Australian Open Quarterfinal Picks: Jessica Pegula vs Victoria Azarenka, Sebastian Korda vs Karen Khachanov

It has been an Australian Open to remember for many Americans, as four American men (Tommy Paul, J.J. Wolf, Sebastian Korda, and Ben Shelton) all reached the fourth round. That is the first time since 2004 that at least four American men made it that far in the first Grand Slam.

Naturally, with the future of US tennis being a big talking point at the Australian Open, tennis expert Mike Spector breaks down two more matches involving Americans, one on the men’s side with Sebastian Korda and one in the Women’s Draw with Jessica Pegula.

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Jessica Pegula vs. Victoria Azarenka Prediction

Pegula vs. Azarenka Start Time, Where to Watch, and Odds

• Date: Tuesday, January 23
• Time: 3:00 am ET
• Where to Watch: ESPN+

Click Here for Pegula vs. Azarenka odds

Pegula is now the favorite to win the Australian Open after World No. 1 Iga Swiatek was beaten over the weekend. She will have her hands full with former No. 1 Azarenka, who overcame losing the first set in her last match to defeat Lin Zhu. These two have a long history, splitting their four head-to-head matches. Pegula is 2-1 on hard courts, including a 7-5, 6-4 victory at the Australian Open in 2018. Since then, she has been a much more seasoned player and dominated Azarenka in their last meeting at Guadalajara. The American was all over Azarenka’s second serve in that match, as Azarenka won just 11 of 26 (42%) second serve points. 

Pegula has won both meetings in straight sets, is on an eight-match winning streak (all wins by straight sets), and is 6-2-1 against the spread this year. In addition, Pegula’s last 13 WTA main draw hard court matches have been decided in straight sets, and since the favorite is 17-1 in her last 18 Grand Slam main draw matches, we expect her to cover the game spread. 

Jessica Pegula vs. Victoria Azarenka Pick

PICK: Pegula -3.5 games (-140) Bet $100 to collect $171 Get the best odds at DraftKings, click here to bet

Sebastian Korda vs. Karen Khachanov Prediction

Korda vs. Khachanov Start Time, Where to Watch, and Odds

• Date: Monday, January 22
• Time: 10:00 pm ET
• Where to Watch: ESPN+

Click Here for Korda vs. Khachanov odds

Even before Taylor Fritz was ousted earlier this tournament, there was a widespread belief that Sebastian Korda presented the most upside of all the young Americans in the Australian Open field. He currently has the third-best odds (+700) to win the tournament after beating Daniil Medvedev and Hubert Hurkacz, but the nerves of playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal should be too much to overcome.

Korda hit 50 winners to Medvedev’s 28 and won 75% (36 of 48) of his net points. However, he has shown a penchant for blowing leads, and not many more players have dominated matchups in this major like Karen Khachanov did, winning the first 14 games in his last match against Yoshihito Nishioka. 

Khachanov has covered the game spread in each of his last four ATP main draw matches, and each of his last two Grand Slam quarterfinal matches have gone five sets. There is likely somewhat of an American bias built into this line, and considering he has -150 odds to win at least two sets, we have to back him at plus money to pull the upset.

Sebastian Korda vs. Karen Khachanov Pick

PICK: Khachanov ML (+115) Bet $100 to collect $215 Get the best odds at DraftKings, click here to bet

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