One of the tastiest ties of the round, it’s befitting of a quarter final encounter. Aussie, Ashleigh Barty has the home crowd’s hopes on her shoulders and comes here in great form. Belorussian, Aryna Sabalenka is arguably one of the most exciting young talents on tour at the moment. A Fed Cup final victory over US Open Champion Sloane Stephens shows that Sabalenka, at the tender age of 19, has that big match belief already. Experience of handling high-pressure points will decide here but Sabalenka will keep it close.

Pick: Sabalenka +4 at 1.99 on Pinnaclesports

A 2-0 head—to-head in Safarova’s favour includes a fairly recent hard court victory at the 2017 Miami Open. Safarova has only played one match this year, losing to Kerber in Sydney in three sets. That was not a bad first match effort, given that Kerber went on to win the tournament. Spread is not high and Safarova should cover it.

Pick: Safarova -3.5 at 1.82 on Pinnaclesports

Kristyna Pliskova claimed a big upset in Shenzhen, beating Jelena Ostapenko in the first round. She is going to have to produce some more of that kind of form if she has any chance of beating Radwanska in Melbourne. Agnieszka Radwanska is not the player she once was although does look refreshed at the start of this season. Kristyna Pliskova meanwhile, is not in particularly good form herself but with a serve of her quality, will cause Radwanska problems.

Pick: over 20.5 at 1.94 on Pinnaclesports

Since her US Open final appearance last year, Madison Keys has contested two matches, and lost them both. Granted, her last loss came at the hands of Johanna Konta, but still, the American will want to end her poor run of form. Keys’ game is suited to hard courts, and she comes up against Qiang Wang, a player who has never made it past the second round in Melbourne. Nonetheless, Wang had a good run to the semi-finals in Hong Kong last year, and she took Caroline Wozniacki to three sets in Beijing last year as well. If Keys makes too many errors, then Qiang has a chance. However, anything but a below-par performance from Keys, in combination with a fantastic performance from Qiang, will not be enough to sway the match in favour of the Chinese player.

Pick: Keys -4 at 1.83 on Pinnaclesports