SPIN'S AO DAY 4 RESULTS

No time for a long post, but Spin had a 87.5% success rate in picking her Day 4 matches. Results below.  More later ... Oh Petra!!!!

PLAYER A	PLAYER B	SPIN’S PICKS	RESULTS
Victoria Azarenka	Eleni Daniilidou	Azarenka – while the top seed had some trouble with Nicolescu in her opening match, she should sail through this one with no problems	Azarenka
Luksika Kumkhum	Jamie Hampton	Hampton – the feisty young American should have some trouble but should get through in 3	Hampton
Varvara Lepchenko	Elena Vesnina	This is a pick em but I am going out on a limb and picking Vesnina for the win. That title in Hobart seems to be working wonders on her psyche	Vesnina
Akgul Amanmuradova	Roberta Vinci	I would pick the big serving Akgul but Vinci will expose her movement with her slice backhand -  Vinci	Vinci
Caroline Wozniacki	Donna Vekic	A battle of young guns.  Vekic is young and hungry. Wozniacki is young and tired.  This could be long with Wozniacki winning or short with Vekic winning.  I am going with Wozniacki	Wozniacki
Daria Gavrilova	Lesia Tsurenko	Tsurenko has played a lot of tennis this season.  Taking out a seed in her last round, look for her to have a let down here - Gavrilova	Tsurenko
Su-Wei Hsieh	Svetlana Kuznetsova	This depends on which Sveta shows up.  If she decides to play behind the baseline, she will lose.  Hsieh can run all day.  Sveta should use her arsenal of shots to win this - Kuznetsova	Kuznetsova
Yulia Putintseva	Carla Suarez Navarro	Another battle of the tiny tots.  The world got to see Putintseva in her last match against McHale. Look for the steady Navarro to outlast the Russian – Navarro	Navarro
Serena Williams	Garbine Muguruza	How is the ankle doing?  That is the question the tennis world is waiting on when Serena takes the court for her second round match. Serena in straights	Williams
Ayumi Morita	Annika Beck	I have not see either of these women play since the tournament started but I am going with Beck, if only because of her big win in the previous round.	Morita
Yanina Wickmayer	Jana Cepelova	Wickmayer to continue her 2013 run of form against the youngster	Wickmayer
Shuai Peng	Maria Kirilenko	This one will be a long drawn out affair.  If Peng serves well, she should take it, but I am going with Kirilenko	Kirilenko
Kimiko Date-Krumm	Shahar Peer	Peer had to battle hard just to get here while Krumm sent Petrova packing with a bagel.  Look for Krumm to discombolate Peer here.	Krumm
Bojana Jovanovski	Lucie Safarova	Depends on which Lucie shows up.  Bojana can be steady as well as erratic.  I am going with Jovanovski	Jovanovski
Sloane Stephens	Kristina Mladenovic	Battle of the young guns.  Stephens dispatched her last opponent with 2 breadsticks.  Look for her to continue her great run of form here.	Stephens
Laura Robson	Petra Kvitova	This is the match of the day.  Is 2011 Petra back or will Robson get another top 10 scalp at a Major.  I am going with Petra because of her experience, plus she has to get it right at some point	Robson

SPIN'S AO DAY 4 PICKS

It is already Day 4 and time for Spin's Picks.  I don't know about anyone else, but the top half of the draw seems to have more matches that I would love to see, moreso than the bottom half.  Early days yet though so anything can happen. 

Day 4's matches features some questions that are high on everyone's list, namely:-

1. how is Serena Williams' ankle; 
2. is Petra Kvitova really on her way back; 
3. is Laura Robson the real deal; 
4. is Svetlana Kuznetsova really working her way back to the top of women's tennis; 
5. has Caroline Wozniacki sufficiently recovered from that early round scare in the first round; and 
6. is Yanina Wickmayer finally beginning to show us what she is really made of?

Below are Spin's picks for Day 4. 

PLAYER A	PLAYER B	SPIN’S PICKS	RESULTS
Victoria Azarenka	Eleni Daniilidou	Azarenka – while the top seed had some trouble with Nicolescu in her opening match, she should sail through this one with no problems
Luksika Kumkhum	Jamie Hampton	Hampton – the feisty young American should have some trouble but should get through in 3
Varvara Lepchenko	Elena Vesnina	This is a pick em but I am going out on a limb and picking Vesnina for the win. That title in Hobart seems to be working wonders on her psyche
Akgul Amanmuradova	Roberta Vinci	I would pick the big serving Akgul but Vinci will expose her movement with her slice backhand -  Vinci
Caroline Wozniacki	Donna Vekic	A battle of young guns.  Vekic is young and hungry. Wozniacki is young and tired.  This could be long with Wozniacki winning or short with Vekic winning.  I am going with Wozniacki
Daria Gavrilova	Lesia Tsurenko	Tsurenko has played a lot of tennis this season.  Taking out a seed in her last round, look for her to have a let down here - Gavrilova
Su-Wei Hsieh	Svetlana Kuznetsova	This depends on which Sveta shows up.  If she decides to play behind the baseline, she will lose.  Hsieh can run all day.  Sveta should use her arsenal of shots to win this - Kuznetsova
Yulia Putintseva	Carla Suarez Navarro	Another battle of the tiny tots.  The world got to see Putintseva in her last match against McHale. Look for the steady Navarro to outlast the Russian – Navarro
Serena Williams	Garbine Muguruza	How is the ankle doing?  That is the question the tennis world is waiting on when Serena takes the court for her second round match. Serena in straights
Ayumi Morita	Annika Beck	I have not see either of these women play since the tournament started but I am going with Beck, if only because of her big win in the previous round.
Yanina Wickmayer	Jana Cepelova	Wickmayer to continue her 2013 run of form against the youngster
Shuai Peng	Maria Kirilenko	This one will be a long drawn out affair.  If Peng serves well, she should take it, but I am going with Kirilenko
Kimiko Date-Krumm	Shahar Peer	Peer had to battle hard just to get here while Krumm sent Petrova packing with a bagel.  Look for Krumm to discombolate Peer here.
Bojana Jovanovski	Lucie Safarova	Depends on which Lucie shows up.  Bojana can be steady as well as erratic.  I am going with Jovanovski
Sloane Stephens	Kristina Mladenovic	Battle of the young guns.  Stephens dispatched her last opponent with 2 breadsticks.  Look for her to continue her great run of form here.
Laura Robson	Petra Kvitova	This is the match of the day.  Is 2011 Petra back or will Robson get another top 10 scalp at a Major.  I am going with Petra because of her experience, plus she has to get it right at some point

SPIN'S DAY 3 RESULTS

Good morning folks.  I hope you all survived Day 3 of the Australian Open.  Spin did not do so badly yesterday. She had a little over 68% success rate.  She is especially overjoyed this morning because she predicted another double bagel by Sharapova against Misaki  Doi of Japan.  I am not sure that is something that any fan of women's tennis should be proud of. 

Below are the results of yesterday's Day 3.  Spin's picks for Day 4 will be posted later today. 

PLAYER A	PLAYER B	SPIN’S PICKS	RESULTS
Na Li	Olga Govortsova	Li – these 2 players are as error prone as you can get, but I expect Li to have too much firepower for her opponent	Li
Kristyna Pliskova	Sorana Cirstea	Cirstea – this is the steadier of the 2 players (which is not saying a lot)	Cirstea
Julia Georges	Romina Oprandi	Oprandi – both ladies had tough first round matches (tougher than they should be) but Oprandi is less error prone than her opponent	Georges
Jie Zheng	Samantha Stosur	Stosur – winning a round at your home Slam can do wonders. I expect Stosur to continue on with a straights set win over Zheng	Zheng
Ana Ivanovic	Yung-Jan Chan	Chan – the steadiness of Chan should come through against Ivanovic	Ivanovic
Maria Joao Koehler	Jelena Jankovic	Jankovic – a pick em if I have ever seen one.  I did not see JJ’s first round match, and neither have I seen Koehler play, but experience should get JJ by (which is not saying much)	Jankovic
Ksenia Pervak	Heather Watson	Pervak – to continue on her upswing Down Under	Watson
Irina-Camelia Begu	Agnieszka Radwanska	Radwanska – to outsteady the error prone youngster	Radwanska
Angelique Kerber	Lucie Hradecka	Kerber – Kerber is the steadier of the 2, plus Hradecka for all her big game is too error prone	Kerber
Madison Keys	Tamira Paszek	Keys – too much firepower by the youngster and will overcome Paszek.  Has to try and not get into long rallies by Paszek	Keys
Ekaterina Makarova	Stefanie Foretz Garcon	Makarova – Makarova plays very well Down Under. Look for her to continue to the 3rd round	Makarova
Vesna Dolonc	Marion Bartoli	Bartoli – Bartoli shocked me by actually making it out of the first round.  Maybe too much to ask to see if she can go further	Bartoli
Dominika Cibulkova	Valeria Savinykh	Cibulkova – to continue her winning ways Down Under	Savinykh
Kirsten Flipkens	Klara Zakopalova	Flipkens – Belgium’s resurgent player to overpower the steadier opponent	Flipkens
Venus Williams	Alize Cornet	Williams – sentimental pick Venus.  Will have to ensure that she does not get into long drawn out rallies with Cornet.  Has to continue to come to net and use her big game to win this	Williams
Misaki Doi	Maria Sharapova	Sharapova – too much firepower for her opponent.  Possibly another double bagel here	Sharapova

The match of the day for me was that between Madison Keys and Tamira Paszek.  As predicted above, I felt that Keys would have a little too much firepower for Paszek.  I am a bit disappointed as to how far Paszek seems to have regressed after her brilliant season in 2012.  I am hoping that she will be able to turn it around as the season progresses. 

I did not get to watch much tennis last night as I am still battling the last vestiges of the flu, but from my Twitter timeline (and you can follow me @bridgepea) it seems as if there were some great matches last night.  Hopefully they are all on the AO website and I can view them at my leisure. 

SPIN'S AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 3 PICKS

Day 3 of the Australian Opens sees 16 matches from the bottom half of the ladies' draw.  Below are Spin's Picks for Day 3.

PLAYER A	PLAYER B	SPIN’S PICKS	RESULTS
Na Li	Olga Govortsova	Li – these 2 players are as error prone as you can get, but I expect Li to have too much firepower for her opponent
Kristyna Pliskova	Sorana Cirstea	Cirstea – this is the steadier of the 2 players (which is not saying a lot)
Julia Georges	Romina Oprandi	Oprandi – both ladies had tough first round matches (tougher than they should be) but Oprandi is less error prone than her opponent
Jie Zheng	Samantha Stosur	Stosur – winning a round at your home Slam can do wonders. I expect Stosur to continue on with a straights set win over Zheng
Ana Ivanovic	Yung-Jan Chan	Chan – the steadiness of Chan should come through against Ivanovic
Maria Joao Koehler	Jelena Jankovic	Jankovic – a pick em if I have ever seen one.  I did not see JJ’s first round match, and neither have I seen Koehler play, but experience should get JJ by (which is not saying much)
Ksenia Pervak	Heather Watson	Pervak – to continue on her upswing Down Under
Irina-Camelia Begu	Agnieszka Radwanska	Radwanska – to outsteady the error prone youngster
Angelique Kerber	Lucie Hradecka	Kerber – Kerber is the steadier of the 2, plus Hradecka for all her big game is too error prone
Madison Keys	Tamira Paszek	Keys – too much firepower by the youngster and will overcome Paszek.  Has to try and not get into long rallies by Paszek
Ekaterina Makarova	Stefanie Foretz Garcon	Makarova – Makarova plays very well Down Under. Look for her to continue to the 3rd round
Vesna Dolonc	Marion Bartoli	Bartoli – Bartoli shocked me by actually making it out of the first round.  Maybe too much to ask to see if she can go further
Dominika Cibulkova	Valeria Savinykh	Cibulkova – to continue her winning ways Down Under
Kirsten Flipkens	Klara Zakopalova	Flipkens – Belgium’s resurgent player to overpower the steadier opponent
Venus Williams	Alize Cornet	Williams – sentimental pick Venus.  Will have to ensure that she does not get into long drawn out rallies with Cornet.  Has to continue to come to net and use her big game to win this
Misaki Doi	Maria Sharapova	Sharapova – too much firepower for her opponent.  Possibly another double bagel here