Andreas Seppi vs Alex de Minaur
A week of thrilling tennis at the ATP Sydney reaches its climax this evening on the Ken Rosewall Arena with what promises to be an intriguing final between Alex de Minaur and Andreas Seppi. The Italian has been playing some brilliant tennis this week and has recorded impressive victories over higher ranked players, most notably the tournament’s #1 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The key component to the Italian’s success has been his serving. He has been very difficult to break and has had the ability to get many free points on serve, which was most notably shown in the fifteen aces he hit in his quarterfinal clash with Martin Kilzan, in which he hit fifteen aces. However, as well as his impressive serving, the Italian has been effective in grinding the points out in the rally and has been the best player this week in the tight moments in matches, which is why he has made it into the final.
De Minaur’s week has been a stark contrast to the Italian’s. In his three matches so far, he has not dropped a set and he looked most impressive in his semi-final win over Gilles Simon, where he showcased a display of big serving and attacking baseline tennis to out power the experienced Frenchman. What has been impressive about de Minaur, is that he is already building on what was a breakthrough season for his career in 2018, when he also made the final of this event, losing out to Daniil Medvedev as well as qualifying for the ATP NextGen Finals in Milan. The young Aussie has shown maturity beyond his years and has definitely established himself as the best young Talent in Australian tennis and it is incredible to think that he is only nineteen years old. If he is able to lift the title this week, it would be his first ATP title.
Prediction
On paper, de Minaur has to be seen as the favourite. If he continues to play the way he has done throughout this week, then he should lift the title. However, if Seppi serves as well as he has done all tournament, then de Minaur will have to return well. This match promises to have massive serving and long rallies, with Seppi doing all he can to extend the points and break down the De Minaur game and de Minaur looking to take the ball early and shorten the points. As always, the final could go either way if both players bring their A game, however i think because of his dominant form in not dropping a set, the Aussie NextGen star has the edge and will edge it in three tight sets.
