ATP Great Ocean Road Open Final Prediction

Jannik Sinner vs Stefano Travaglia

Head-to-head: first meeting

Sinner survived a thriller on Saturday, saving a match point against Karen Khachanov in a battle that lasted for over three hours. That was the first set the youngster’s lost all week, having previously won a couple of very closely-contested tie-breaks. He’s already won four of such sets in Melbourne, losing none.

Travaglia was very close to falling on the first hurdle, engaging in a nerve-racking contest against Roberto Carballes Baena. After losing the opening set, he just couldn’t gather himself to serve out the next two and ultimately made it much longer than it should have been. But the 29-year-old raised his level throughout the week, culminating in a stunning quarterfinal win over the third seed Hubert Hurkacz.

The two have never played each other, but the matchup shouldn’t heavily favour either. Travaglia has a well-rounded game with his excellent footwork and speed around the court perhaps the most impressive assets. Sinner was known for his incredible power and accelerations out of nowhere but recently, he also seems to have added a good share of consistency into his game.

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It allowed him to start performing on his best level with regularity, which resulted in a 17-3 win/loss record since Roland Garros. In that period, he only lost to top 10 players (Andrey Rublev via retirement, Zverev, Rafael Nadal). The youngster’s ceiling is most certainly a lot higher than Travaglia’s and he’s been showing that with alarming frequency. Alarming for his opponents, that is.

Where Sinner should have a significant advantage is the mental side of the game. This is uncharted territory for Travaglia, whereas Sinner has already played (and won) a tour-level final. And, although Both had to pull off some incredible wins from the brink of defeat this week but from a more general point of view, Travaglia has a reputation of throwing away matches. Coupled with the added pressure of playing his first final, it’s quite possible that he won’t perform up to his standards.