Aussie Open Semis

While you were fast asleep in your comfy beds during the wee hours of this morning, on the other side of the planet, the last four ladies at the Australian Open were battling for a spot in the final…check out those results here 🇦🇺

• Semifinal action still awaits for the men (bracket here), and there’s one name notably absent from the remaining quartet — 20-year-old superstar and 2023 Wimbledon champ Carlos Alcaraz, who entered the tournament with the second-best odds (+225)

Alcaraz certainly didn’t play his best tennis in Wednesday’s quarterfinal loss, but more importantly, it was an incredibly impressive win for the sixth-ranked Zverev, setting up a semifinal match against a very familiar opponent in three-seed Daniil Medvedev 🇷🇺

• But although the two have seen a lot of each other over the years with 18 head-to-head meetings (Medvedev leads the series 11-7), never have the stakes been this high 😳

This ain’t just some friendly rivalry either — there’s some legitimate bad blood between the two competitors. The series has leaned heavily towards Medvedev recently, and he’s favored in this matchup as well (-146)…but Zverev (+124) showed in his upset win over Alcaraz that he can take down anyone in pursuit of his elusive first Grand Slam 👀

In our other men’s semifinal matchup is a man who needs no introduction, the pre-tournament favorite (+110) and the undisputed GOAT in the eyes of many — the one, the only, Novak Djokovic. Is anyone surprised? 🐐

10 of Djokovic’s record 24 Grand Slam titles have come in Australia, and after largely breezing through his first five matches of this year’s tournament, he looks plenty capable of extending his all-time lead over Nadal with an 11th 😏

• But even the Joker has to be impressed with how well his next opponent has been playing, four-seeded Jannik Sinner. The 22-year-old has yet to drop a set this tournament 🤯

⬆️ Talk about high praise for a guy who hasn’t even reached a Grand Slam final yet. Sinner is still a pretty sizable underdog (+176) against Djokovic (-210), but it was actually the young gun who came out on top when the two last played 😳

At this stage, betting on the tourney winner is nothing more than a two-match parlay. And according to oddsmakers, more likely than not it’ll be Djokovic who wins his next two. Here’s one last look at the men’s title odds before the semifinals commence 👇

Odds to Win 2024 Australian Open

• Novak Djokovic: -140

• Jannik Sinner: +300

• Daniil Medvedev: +500

• Alexander Zverev: +750

Matches are scheduled to kick-off at 10:30PM EST, with Djokovic vs. Sinner slated first. Medvedev vs. Zverev will follow 🎾

Trivia Question: Sinner is hoping to become just the second Italian men’s player to reach a Grand Slam final since 1976; who was the first?

For My Parlay Gurus

I’ll confess, I’m tempted to go with the Sinner upset. Very tempted. But betting against the GOAT rarely goes well. And while a Zverev upset is also intriguing, Medvedev’s H2H dominance lately is enough for me to avoid the underdogs entirely. Check out this parlay 👇

• Djokovic ML vs. Sinner: -210

• Medvedev ML vs. Zverev: -146

$100 on this bet would win you $149 — if we hit, make sure you email [email protected] for a chance to win an Overtime hoodie*. Many will enter, only some will win 😉

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Trivia Answer: Matteo Berrettini reached the Wimbledon final in 2021, where he lost to Djokovic in four sets

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