Australian Open Day 2 Qualifying Odds, Picks: Best Bets for Franco Agamenone vs. Vit Kopriva, Emilio Gomez vs. Nicola Kuhn (Jan. 10)
Credit: Oscar Del Pozo, Getty. Emilio Gomez hits a backhand at the 2021 Davis Cup.
Day two of the Aussie Open qualifiers brings a number of intriguing matches, featuring the ATP Cup standout Roman Safiullin facing the Australian conundrum Bernard Tomic.
However, there are opportunistic matches to take advantage of as well, with more than 30 matches to be played.
Here is who I believe has value on tonight's slate.
Match times are subject to change. Read here for tips on viewing tennis matches.
Franco Agamenone (-145) vs. Vit Kopriva (+114)
7 p.m. ET
Agamenone and Kopriva both competed in the Bendigo Challenger last week, where they both suffered tough losses past the quarterfinals.
Kopriva fell in a third-set tiebreaker to Ernesto Escobedo, who went on to win the tournament, and if we learned anything from Timofey Skatov on Sunday, there's absolutely nothing wrong with competing well with Escobedo right now. The American is one of the most in-form players at the Challenger level, and he won't be easily beaten by anyone at the moment.
The Italian also fell in the third-set, battling with Enzo Couacaud, who went on to lose to Gomez in the final … also in three sets.
Both players spend a majority of their time on clay, but Kopriva has the patience and style of play that conditions him well for these types of situations. A player who is willing to stand at the baseline and engage in long rallies, Kopriva's fitness could be key, and if Agamenone gets impatient and begins to force things, he could create issues for himself.
With hot temperatures present as always in Melbourne, Kopriva will love the situation that he's in, and it could create for a very tense match.
There is the potential for this to be a really well-played match between two solid ball-strikers, but with the extra juice that Kopriva is getting, it makes sense to back him.
Pick: Vit Kopriva +114 via PointsBet
Emilio Gomez (-150) vs. Nicola Kuhn (+120)
8:35 p.m. ET
Coming into this match, the 21-year-old Kuhn has played 25 hard court matches since the end of 2019. He's played 37 matches on clay, where he's far more comfortable.
On the other hand, Gomez is just the opposite, playing 66 matches on the surface over the same period. Gomez's hard court Elo rating is nearly 150 points higher than Kuhn's, and he closed out the year by pushing Pablo Carreno Busta to the brink in the Davis Cup, which was held in Carreno Busta's home country of Spain.
While he was dominated by Daniil Medvedev in his final match of 2021, Gomez took a break after that, and while it would have been ideal for him to get a touch of match preparation heading into this qualifying draw, he's an experienced player who knows what will work best for him.
Kuhn competed well in the Traralgon Challenger this past week, but he didn't come up against players who have hard court pedigree similar to Gomez. Zdenek Kolar and Nino Serdarusic are clay-court specialists, while Philip Sekulic is an 18-year old Aussie with nearly no experience at the higher levels of the game.
Look for Gomez to take advantage of his experience and wear out Kuhn over the course of the match, using his hard-court weaponry far better than the German.
Pick: Emilio Gomez (-150) via DraftKings
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