The first Grand Slam tournament of the year kicks off in Melbourne. It’s been a strange path to get here, but we’re finally here. Day 1 of the Australian Open will begin Monday morning, Melbourne time, and we’re here to predict every match for you. With 32 men’s matches, that means we’re splitting up the matches between eight articles. Make sure you don’t miss our other predictions as well, featuring Milos Raonic vs Federico Coria, Alexander Zverev vs Marcos Giron, Denis Shapovalov vs Jannik Sinner, Nick Kyrgios vs Frederico Ferreira Silva, Novak Djokovic vs Jeremy Chardy, Grigor Dimitrov vs Marin Cilic, and Dominic Thiem vs Mikhail Kukushkin.
Predicting this set of matches are myself (Yesh Ginsburg), Steen Kirby, and Elias.
Australian Open Day 1 Predictions
Aljaz Bedene vs Alexander Bublik
Steen:
Bedene has the H2H win in their only matchup. Bublik is in pretty good form right now (he reached the final in Turkey), but I still have him as a narrow underdog.
Prediction: Bedene in 5
Elias:
This is going to be a very interesting matchup as Bublik is a young up and comer vs Bedene, looking to make a breakthrough in the first Grand Slam of 2021. Bublik seems to be on the rise and I feel he has more weapons than Bedene so look for the kid to come through.
Prediction: Bublik in 4
Yesh:
You never quite know what you’ll get with Alexander Bublik. He is a fun and unconventional player, and he can just be a pain for opponents to deal with, especially as matches go long.
Prediction: Bublik in 5
Yasutaka Uchiyama vs Ugo Humbert
Steen:
Uchiyama has a H2H win. He’s struggling right now, though, so it’s advantage to the Frenchman.
Prediction: Humbert in 4
Elias:
The young Frenchman is always a threat whenever he plays and has some serious weapons at his disposal that could cause some upsets during the open. Uchiyama is more of a doubles player and spends most of his year playing Challenger events.
Prediction: Humbert in 3
Yesh:
Ugo Humbert has a ton of talent and is a potential top player. Uchiyama is a solid player in his own right, but he’s not as consistent or as talented as Humbert.
Prediction: Humbert in 4
Kei Nishikori vs Pablo Carreno Busta
Steen:
Nishikori is struggling and a shell of the player he was at his peak right now. PCB is a tough opponent under any circumstances and I don’t see Nishikori being able to hang with him and outlast him over best of five.
Prediction: Carreno Busta in 5
Elias:
This match is going one of the matches of the first round because in a normal world this has a making of a Grand Slam quarterfinal but due to Nishikori not playing much last season during the pandemic his ranking dropped. Carreno Busta has done well in Grand Slams recently, making the semis in New York last September.
Prediction: Nishikori in 5
Yesh:
I would really like to pick Nishikori here. He has so much talent and deserves to win a Grand Slam someday. Unfortunately for him, his health has precluded that possibility for the moment, and Carreno Busta is just too solid and consistent to lose here.
Prediction: Carreno Busta in 4
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Stan Wawrinka vs Pedro Sousa
Steen:
Wawrinka is in good enough form and Sousa has never been a great hard court player. This should be straightforward.
Prediction: Wawrinka in 3
Elias:
Stan the man is back in Australia and looking for another long run at the Open. He is coming off a quarterfinal appearance in last week’s warm up event before retiring due to an injury so we will have to see if he is 100% but knowing Stan he probably just wanted more time to recover. Sousa is a tricky player which should make for an intriguing match.
Prediction: Wawrinka in 3
Yesh:
We never know what we’ll get with Wawrinka, but we definitely get more than what Sousa is capable of on hard courts. Wawrinka is a very good player, and one of the world’s best when his game is on. Even if it’s not, though, he’s not losing to Sousa.
Prediction: Wawrinka in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
