Day 4 means that the Australian Open concludes the second round on Thursday in Melbourne. 32 men will compete for a spot in the third round. We’re here at LWOT to predict all 16 matches four you. The predictions are split between four articles. In addition to this article, the others feature Rafael Nadal vs Michael Mmoh, Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Thanasi Kokkinakis, and Daniil Medvedev vs Roberto Carballes Baena. Predicting this set of matches are myself (Yesh Ginsburg), Damian Kust, and Fraser Learmonth.
Australian Open Day 4 Men’s Predictions
Mackenzie McDonald vs Borna Coric
Yesh:
I personally really enjoy watching McDonald play and it’s always nice to see him win. Coric is the better player, though, so he should win as long as he can keep his head in the game and not give much away. With Coric, that’s not always guaranteed.
Prediction: Coric in 5
Fraser:
Coric looked good in his first round matchup against Guido Pella. The Croatiann seems to be returning to his best levels and could make a deep run in this Major. He faces a tricky opponent in MacKenzie McDonald, whose ranking doesn’t truly reflect his ability. Nonetheless, Coric should have enough to see this one through without too much trouble.
Prediction: Coric in 4
Damian:
Borna Coric is often vulnerable to early upsets, especially in matches when he has to dictate the play by himself. However, the Croat has been playing very well in the past week or so, Mackenzie McDonald has a solid game but he doesn’t really have the skillset required to really put his opponent in trouble. This should be on Coric’s racket.
Prediction: Coric in 4
Alex de Minaur vs Pablo Cuevas
Yesh:
Cuevas is a solid player who can do well even on this surface. He shouldn’t be able to hang with de Minaur, though, as long as the Aussie plays well.
Prediction: de Minaur in 3
Fraser:
De Minaur looked in great touch in his straight sets win over Grand Slam specialist Tenys Sandgren in the first round. The slight Aussie is the host countries best hope for Grand Slam success in the men’s game and looks determined to go deep in the Australian Open this year. He will certainly expect to advance past Ceuvas without too much trouble. The Uruguayan has seen his hard court game diminish in recent years and remains a threat to the elite in the men’s game only on clay at the moment.
Prediction: de Minaur in 3
Damian:
This should be relatively straightforward. Pablo Cuevas has been doing quite well since the start of the season but his hard court game can be extremely up and down. Alex de Minaur should be able to run down everything the Uruguayan can throw at him and turn defense into offense with relative ease.
Prediction: de Minaur in 3
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Cameron Norrie vs Roman Safiullin
Yesh:
This is an incredible opportunity for the young Brit. He took out Dan Evans in the first round and now has a matchup against a player he should beat. Expect to see Norrie in the third round, though that matchup won’t be as favorable.
Prediction: Norrie in 3
Fraser:
Norrie did well to beat fellow countryman and British #1 Dan Evans in what was a tricky first round matchup. He now faces a less known but equally tricky opponent in Safiullin. The Russian did well to get past Ivashka in straight sets in his first round match. However, Norrie looks to be full of conifdence and playing his best tennis at the moment and that is a level Safiullin can’t match over a five set match
Prediction: Norrie in 4
Damian:
Cameron Norrie can be a very unusual and tricky opponent and in the battle between Britons, Dan Evans did not have much of a clue about how to deal with it. Roman Safiullin qualified for this event and after already overperforming his best ever result by this match, he will probably play as if he had nothing to lose. With Norrie’s good recent form recently, this probably won’t be enough.
Prediction: Norrie in 4
Yesh:
Rublev is just absolutely unbeatable right now. He should be a threat for the title, and Monteiro won’t stand in his way.
Prediction: Rublev in 3
Fraser:
You have to feel for Monteiro here. The clay court specialist is enjoying one of the best runs of his career on hard courts after making a semifinal appearance in one of the Melbourne warmup events last week. However, for his success in the first round he must now face the most in-form player on the tour in Rublev. Anyone who has watched Rublev in recent weeks will know he is pretty much unplayable at the moment. Monterio will do well just to make any of these sets remotely close.
Prediction: Rublev in 3
Damian:
Thiago Monteiro is playing by far his best hard court tennis right now but he’s still coming in as a huge underdog here. Andrey Rublev was looking amazing at the ATP Cup and only confirmed that with another stunning performance to beat Yannick Hanfmann. It might be a false sense of security but it seems like only the very best in the world can take him right now.
Prediction: Rublev in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
Disagree with our Australian Open Day 4 predictions? As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
