{"id":392652,"date":"2026-01-16T17:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=392652"},"modified":"2026-01-16T17:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:19:13","slug":"australian-open-first-round-tennis-predictions-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/australian-open-first-round-tennis-predictions-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open 2026 first-round picks and predictions: Best bets for Zverev vs. Diallo, Alcaraz vs. Walton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Australian Open begins on Saturday with some big names looking to start the tennis year off right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The pregame narrative:<\/strong> Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz traded major victories back and forth last season, with the former winning in Australia. Alcaraz needs a victory in Melbourne to complete the career grand slam, and opens his tournament as a massive favourite over Adam Walton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out my top Australian Open predictions for the first-round matchups, featuring a pick on Canadian Gabriel Diallo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Join NorthStar Bets &amp; bet on the Australian Open<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Australian Open predictions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best bet: Diallo +2.5 sets (-132)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Diallo is a nightmare draw for No. 3-seed Alexander Zverev, who must be getting desperate for that elusive grand slam win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The German has never won one of tennis&#8217; crown jewels despite his elite talent level. He failed to reach the quarterfinal in each of the last two majors, losing in the opening round at Wimbledon last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Bet on Diallo against Zverev at the Australian Open<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Diallo has a massive serve and some impressive performances under his belt already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 6-foot-8 Canadian won the Libema Open, pushed Taylor Fritz to five sets at the All England Club, and went the distance against Alex de Minaur at the Rolex Paris Masters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do I think he can beat Zverev? No. But winning a set shouldn&#8217;t be too much to ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Expect a strong service game to carry Diallo to a set win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> Diallo has won a set in three of his five matches against ATP top-six-ranked players. He also forced Jannik Sinner to a tiebreak at the Cincinnati Masters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"cacheembed:122831\">Embed: #122831<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Aussie Open: Alcaraz vs. Walton tennis pick<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alcaraz -9.5 games (-110):<\/strong> Alcaraz tends to start tournaments slowly and play with his food. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He doesn&#8217;t actually lose, like Zverev, but we saw him struggle in the opening round at each of the last three Grand Slams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He needed five sets to get past Fabio Fognini at Wimbledon, and failed to cover this line at the French Open (vs. Giulio Zeppieri) and U.S. Open (vs. Reilly Opelka).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Bet on Alcaraz to cruise in the opening round<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\">But the buck should stop here against ATP No. 79-ranked Walton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Walton got demolished on the ATP Tour last year, posting a 13-20 record while going ice cold down the stretch. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>He started this year in bad form, too, losing in the first round at the Brisbane International, 6-3, 6-2. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Alcaraz has a career 37-2 record in five-set matches against players outside of the ATP top 50.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Spaniard won each of his last 12 against that level of competition, covering this game spread five times while winning by nine games twice. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>With the added fuel of a career grand slam on the line, Alcaraz should leave no doubt in his opener. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Australian Open predictions made at 4:45 p.m. on Jan. 16, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Sign up to NorthStar Bets today<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Australian Open begins on Saturday with some big names looking to start the tennis year off right. The pregame narrative: Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz traded major victories back and forth last season, with the former winning in Australia. Alcaraz needs a victory in Melbourne to complete the career grand slam, and opens his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":392678,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[128],"class_list":["post-392652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis","tag-tennis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Australian Open predictions: First-round tennis picks | The Boost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our 2026 first-round Australian Open predictions. 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