{"id":77272,"date":"2025-01-02T14:11:24","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T19:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=77272"},"modified":"2025-01-03T04:56:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T09:56:34","slug":"atp-brisbane-quarterfinal-predictions-including-novak-djokovic-vs-reilly-opelka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/02\/atp-brisbane-quarterfinal-predictions-including-novak-djokovic-vs-reilly-opelka\/","title":{"rendered":"ATP Brisbane Quarterfinal Predictions Including Novak Djokovic vs Reilly Opelka"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Four quarterfinal matches will be contested on Friday at the ATP Brisbane International, with two top 10 players and some young stars all vying for a semifinal spot. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for all four matches, but who will advance?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>ATP Brisbane Quarterfinal Predictions<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Nicolas Jarry vs Jiri Lehecka<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> Lehecka 2-1 Jarry<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This should be an interesting encounter between two similarly ranked players around 30th in the world ranking. Jiri Lehecka, sidelined for injury during much of 2024, has a lot of talent and power on his groundstrokes. He also won the pair\u2019s only ATP tour-level meeting last year in similar conditions in Adelaide. The Czech has also arguably had the tougher route to reach this stage, needing to upset Holger Rune 7-5 6-3 in the first round.Nicolas Jarry must serve well and target Lehecka\u2019s backhand, but the Czech should have enough here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prediction: Lehecka in 2<br \/>\n<a id=\"fJQo2WfvRgl6R4xycXxj5g\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2181785354\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'fJQo2WfvRgl6R4xycXxj5g',sig:'0jCGQiFkFa3uJW2xq4LCs-k4-unk6FUv8_3piDG-KT0=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2181785354',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Jordan Thompson vs Grigor Dimitrov<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> Dimitrov 2-1 Thompson<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was at this stage of the ATP Brisbane International in 2024 that Jordan Thompson defeated Rafael Nadal 5-7 7-6(6) 6-3 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurosport.com\/tennis\/atp-brisbane\/2024\/rafael-nadal-suffers-comeback-setback-ahead-of-australian-open-in-thrilling-three-set-loss-to-jordan_sto9943934\/story.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in a three-hour thriller<\/a>. Who did the Australian play next? Grigor Dimitrov, losing to the Bulgarian in straight sets. Thompson will have the chance to take revenge here. Thompson clearly enjoys playing at this tournament, but then so does defending champion Dimitrov. The second seed is on a seven-match winning streak in Brisbane <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2024\/11\/15\/grigor-dimitrov-2024-challenging-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">as the defending champion<\/a>, and the run should continue unless Thompson can force enough of unforced errors with his consistency. That would be a suprise, but with the crowd behind him don&#8217;t be surprised to see Thompson take this one the distance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: Dimitrov in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard vs Jakub Mensik\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> Mpetshi Perricard 1-0 Mensik<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There may not be many more exciting players to watch in 2025 than Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, especially for the fans who <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2024\/11\/04\/giovanni-mpetshi-perricard-is-redefining-what-it-means-to-be-a-big-server\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">enjoy powerful serving<\/a>. The Frenchman has looked great in Brisbane, most recently upsetting Frances Tiafoe in straight sets. Jakub Mensik also has a lot of upside, coming off a 26-20 record in 2024 (which was arguably an underperformance) with five top 20 wins. But while both ended last season in great form, it\u2019s hard to look away past Mpetshi Perricard given the rhythm he is in on serve and the confidence he\u2019s had in his groundstrokes. Indeed, he\u2019s yet to lose his serve this tournament. Expect the Frenchman to win in two close sets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: Mpetshi Perricard in 2<br \/>\n<a id=\"H1VXgassTvphMau9Rrkz4g\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2191522403\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'H1VXgassTvphMau9Rrkz4g',sig:'ehvrzRGnf2NuwgRLWHKRAZZHl4mcGVBTBlCh9acBbf4=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2191522403',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/em><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Novak Djokovic vs Reilly Opelka<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> first meeting<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a tough season ruined by injuries in 2024, could Reilly Opelka make a return to the top 20? The American has fired 34 aces this week in Brisbane and is coming off a good win over Matteo Arnaldi in the second round. This match will be a far tougher test. Novak Djokovic has been beaten by big servers in the past, but not very often. His consistent and accurate return will challenge Opelka, who will not be able to rely on winning as many free points with his serve. Instead, the American will have to use his forehand to attack Djokovic\u2019s serve and be prepared to take risks. Still, it is one thing to take a risk and another entirely for it to come off.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: Djokovic in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Main photo credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four quarterfinal matches will be contested on Friday at the ATP Brisbane International, with two top 10 players and some young stars all vying for a semifinal spot. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for all four matches, but who will advance? ATP Brisbane Quarterfinal Predictions Nicolas Jarry vs Jiri [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4624,"featured_media":63175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[2307,4089,18755,18865,411,15683,18805,19130,13325,17201,1661,15493,986,17268,22,15556,19,15684,2373,2369],"class_list":["post-77272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-atp-brisbane","tag-atp-brisbane-predictions","tag-giovanni-mpetshi-perricard","tag-giovanni-mpetshi-perricard-predictions","tag-grigor-dimitrov","tag-grigor-dimitrov-predictions","tag-jakub-mensik","tag-jakub-mensik-predictions","tag-jiri-lehecka","tag-jiri-lehecka-predictions","tag-jordan-thompson","tag-jordan-thompson-predictions","tag-nicolas-jarry","tag-nicolas-jarry-predictions","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-novak-djokovic-predictions","tag-reilly-opelka","tag-reilly-opelka-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions"],"modified_by":"Jim Smith","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4624"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77272"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77296,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77272\/revisions\/77296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}