Australian Open Day 1

I'm full of the usual excitement that comes before the first day of a grand slam. The Aussie Open is probably my favourite slam, even if the matches all take place when I should be in bed! I'm going to put up my match picks each day with a little insight as to why I'm recommending that selection. I will tend to focus more on the men than the women and will work on a points basis for the fortnight, with stakes between one point and five points, just so we can measure the stakes and profits. It's also important not to over-do it in terms of making a pick in 20 matches per day. Anyone can pick who they think will win a match but the whole point of this thing is to pick a match where there is a bit of value to be had in the price. I'll keep a track of my picks and we can see how it went at the end of the two weeks. Day one doesn't look too appealing in general, and in Slams the money is usally made from round two or three onwards. Anyway, here goes:

Mens:

Falla v Kukushkin: Falla can be had here at 5/6 and is on a 5 match win streak having won the Noumea Challenger in the first week of January. Kukushkin, on the other hand, is coming off straight set first round defeats in Brisbane and Sydney at hands of Lopez and Struff. Both are dangerous players when they are their game. It appears at the moment that Falls is on his and Kukushkin is not. 1pt Falla

Karlovic v Dodig: This looks to be a toss up and I always like a toss up where you can have 6/4 on one of the sides! Karlovic won their only other Grand Slam encounter, here in 2011 and beat Berdych in Doha while Dodig doesn't look in terrific form. Take Dr. Ivo at 6/4. 1pt Karlovic

Haas v Garcia-Lopez: I like the 8/15 on Tommy Haas here which seems on the big side to me. I wouldn't be overly concerned about the loss to Sock in Auckland. I never read too much into tournament results the week before a Slam so I'm pretty confident he will get the job done here. He is a far better player and a different class to GGL. 2pts Haas

Ramos v Andujar: These guys tend to only meet each other on clay but Andujar won their only hard court encounter in 2012 and at 9/5 certainly looks a tad big in what I'd see as a pick'em match. I like neither player in general and usually avoid their matches. Expect plenty of service breaks and possibly the full five sets too. 1pt Andujar

Lacko v Djokovic: Lacko is wild but he is also very capable and I think the +11.5 head start given by Ladbrokes is a tad generous, even at 8/11. Take that.1pt play

Berankis v Dolgopolov: Dolgopolov is 2/5 here and that looks big to me. He's a different class to Berankis and as long as he gives 100% he'll win this match. 2pts Dolgopolov

Womens:

Bencic v Date-Krumm: I really like Bencic here at 8/13. She plays Date-Krumm, a player 27 years her senior, and Bencic is a player with a very very exciting future. I reckon she's a future slam champion and Date-Krumm is really a nothing player who I hate to watch and really should hang up the racket in my opinion! 3pts Bencic

Watson v Hantuchova: I will take Heather Watson here, who came through qualifying impressively ahead of Hantuchova who is cominf off back to back first round losses. I think Watson has far more potential than Hantuchova who is long past her best and I'll take the 8/11 here. 2pts Watson

Van Uytvanck v Razzano: Razzano is a clay courter who is past her best and in horrible form. I will take the young Belgian to beat her at 4/6 here which seems a decent price to me. 1pt Van Uytvanck

Stosur v Zakopalova: Zakopalova beat Stosur in Hobart last week but it means nothing for me here. I think Stosur will be up for this one and I'm not overly impressed with Zakopalova either. 8/15 looks a nice price on Stosur to win. 3pts Stosur

Come back tomorrow for Tuesday's picks. Over and out :)