Madison Keys vs Victoria Azarenka Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Australian Open

Prediction published on 19/01/2023, 07:04  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 19/01/2023 at 08:04 in Tennis Predictions

Tenth seeded Madison Keys faces the 24th seed Victoria Azarenka in the Australian Open third round. The winner of this goes into the last 16 for a match against either sixth seeded Maria Sakkari or unseeded Zhu Li. Keys is the world number 13 but is defending the points earned when reaching the last four here in 2022. Her live ranking is 19th so more wins are needed to keep that ranking of 13th. The 27-year-old has already had a successful 2023 as she was part of the American team that won the United Cup. Keys won all five of her matches in that team tournament, though only one of her opponents is ranked in the top 30. Her good form has continued this week with wins over Anna Blinkova (dropping the middle set) and Wang Xinyu. Keys has twice reached the last four of the Australian Open (2015 and 2022) and lost in the last eight five years ago. To reach the fourth round, the American will have to get a first ever win over her opponent. Keys has lost all three previous meeting but in the first she retired injured and the second was on clay. The most recent meeting was in Guadalajara last year with Keys losing in three sets.

Victoria Azarenka also has fond memories of this Grand Slam event. Both in 2012 and 2013 she was crowned the Australian Open champion. However, since then the only time Azarenka has made it to the quarter finals was in 2016. Last year saw her get to the fourth round but in the two years before that she'd been beaten in the first round. This week began with her ranked 24th in the world but is a place lower than that in the live rankings. If beating Keys, she'll rise to 22nd place. Azarenka played both of the Adelaide International warm-up tournaments, reaching the quarter finals in the first of them but losing to a player ranked outside the top 100. The second tournament saw her lose in her first match, going down in three sets to Veronika Kudermetova. Her two wins in this tournament have been against former champion Sofia Kenin and Nadia Podoroska, the latter seeing just one game lost. This should be a tight match and a three-setter looks likely.