All top tennis seeds can make fourth round of Australian Open

Prior to his second round match with Marinko Matosevic, Andy Murray identified what he needed to do to keep progressing. It seems this analysis paid off, as he recorded a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the Australian.

“I need to continue serving well,” said Murray. “That helps against whoever you’re playing against. When you play against a big guy who likes to go for his shots, if you can keep good weight and depth behind your shots, that can frustrate them.

“I’ll try and use some variety to throw his timing off a little bit and just continue doing what I’ve been doing the last few weeks” he continued. “I’ve been playing very well in practice and striking the ball cleanly in the matches. If I keep that up, I’ll keep getting better each round.”

Murray is massively odds-on at 1/50 with Coral to beat Joao Sousa, while four-time Australian Open winner Roger Federer is better at 1/9 to secure victory over Italian tennis player Andreas Seppi.

World number one, Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, takes on Fernando Verdasco, having beaten him six times in 10 attempts and, as a result, is strongly odds-on at 1/33 to progress through to the next round.

Rafael Nadal, who is 1/9 for a win over Israel’s Dudi Sela, will be hoping that he doesn’t get in too many difficulties, with the two players never previously meeting.

In the women’s draw, Maria Sharapova is no doubt targeting a second Australian Open win, after being crowned champion in 2008, to add to her French Open title in 2014. She is odds-on at 1/10 to beat Zarina Diyas, who she has never played before.

Both Williams sisters are through to the third round, with elder sibling Venus priced odds-on at 4/11 to beat Italian Camila Giorgi, 11 years her junior aged at 23, and the two have also never met on the court.