Australian Open 2025 Best Bets Today: Predictions by Tennis Experts

In the opening stages of any Grand Slam, there are a ton of lopsided matches. So lopsided that unless you’re betting on the favored player to basically not lose a single game, finding betting value will be tough.

Such is the case between Australian Open men’s favorites Sinner (-10000) and Djokovic (-5000). Sinner is the World No. 1 and won eight titles in 2024, including the Australian Open, US Open and ATP Finals. He only lost 6 times all year while winning 73. On his way to the Aussie Open title last year, he didn’t drop a set until the semifinals against Novak Djokovic.

His opponent, hometown Aussie, Tristan Schoolkate is ranked 173rd, has zero titles to his name and actually just one career win. This should be a straightforward 3-0 for Sinner. Schoolkate won 3-1 in the first round after both losing and winning tiebreakers in the first two sets.

Speaking of Djokovic, he did drop the opening set in the first round to 107th-ranked Nishesh Basavareddy, before going on to win 3-1. That sees him through to face the unranked Jamie Faria from the Challenger Tour. Faria came through the qualifiers and beat Pavel Kotov 6–1, 6–1, 7–5 in the first round.

The days of Djokovic dominating every tournament are over but after getting the first-set jitters out of the way, I’ll combine him to beat Faria 3-0, with Sinner to also win 3-0 into a more reasonable parlay for Tuesday’s Australian Open picks.

It’s the first-ever meeting between the 24-year-old Tomas Machac and the 27-year old Reilly Opelka. It’s Machac who comes in heavily favored at -250 odds as the higher-ranked player (25th in the ATP Rankings), compared to 170th for Opelka.

Both players are coming off of wins in Round 1. For Machac it was a straight sets win over Sumit Nagal, 6–3, 6–1, 7–5.

Opelka dropped his first set versus Gauthier Onclin. Then needed a tiebreak in set two to even things up. From there he cruised 6–3, 6–2 to win 3-1.

Onclin is the 239th-ranked player and was a tiebreak away from going up 2-0 over the American. He did start 2025 strong going all the way to the final in Brisbane, beating Djokovic and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. He reached the final before eventually withdrawing injured against Jiri Lehecka with a back injury.

A healthy Opelka could make this match interesting, and potentially betting on both players to win a set when those Australian Open props are released could be worth a play. However, I see Machac prevailing by at least two sets after peaking recently.

Sabalenka is looking for the three-peat Down Under as the winner of the past two Australian Opens. She’s favored to do so in the Australian Open women’s winner odds. Last year she was flawless, going 14-0 on her way to the title. Those matches included winning by 11, 7, 12, 7, 7, 3 and 7 games.

In the first round this year, she defeated the 66th-ranked Sloane Stephens 6–3, 6–2. She now comes up against the 54th-ranked Jessica Bouzas Maneiro from Spain.

Bouzas Maneiro improved throughout 2024 reaching the Round of 32 in both Wimbledon and the US Open. So this is the third-straight Grand Slam where she’s advanced into the main portion of the tournament. This is the first time she’s done so in the Australian Open.

In the first round, she beat Sonay Kartal 6–1, 7–6(7-5). Her next challenge will be a huge step up against Sabalenka, who has been dominant on hard courts. The world number 1 was 56-14 overall last year, advanced to the semifinals in seven of the past eight majors, and has won each of the past three hard-court majors.

Add to that her 15-match winning streak on hard-courts, and she’ll be tough to upset on Tuesday. She had 20 winners, gave up zero returned winners and won 69% of her first serves versus Stephens. Let’s back Sabalenka to cruise and win by eight or more games in our Australian Open best bets.