{"id":78469,"date":"2025-01-17T01:30:38","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T06:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=78469"},"modified":"2025-01-16T19:45:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T00:45:38","slug":"australian-open-day-7-predictions-fritz-monfils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/17\/australian-open-day-7-predictions-fritz-monfils\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open Day 7 Predictions Including Taylor Fritz vs Gael Monfils"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We wrap up the third round of the Australian Open on Day 7, with eight men&#8217;s matches to decide who reaches Round 4. As always, our writers at LWOT will share their thoughts on all matches. We split the day&#8217;s eight matches between this and a second article&#8211;featuring <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/17\/australian-open-day-7-predictions-sinner-giron\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Jannik Sinner vs Marcos Giron<\/a>. Predicting these matches are Damian Kust, Tope Oke, and Ateet Shrivastava. Who do you think will win on Saturday?<\/p>\n<h2>Australian Open Day 7 Predictions<\/h2>\n<h4>Ben Shelton vs Lorenzo Musetti<\/h4>\n<p><em>Damian:<\/em><br \/>\nThis should be a good shotmaking contest and their match in Miami last year was pretty underrated. While Musetti showed there that he can bear Shelton even on a medium-fast court, he had to play such intelligent active defense there. It feels like in most cases it&#8217;s still the American who should be claiming the win in these conditions with his potent weaponry eventually shining through and rushing Musetti\u2019s groundstrokes.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Shelton in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Tope:<\/em><br \/>\nBoth players have surrendered just a set to illustrate how close this encounter will be. Musetti, however, has a perfect head-to-head record over the American and judging by the solid, clinical win over left-hander Denis Shapovalov in the second round, he will be confident of exiting another, albeit in more difficult circumstances.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Musetti in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Ateet:<\/em><br \/>\nBoth these players have played tough opponents this week but showed their class in beating all of them without having to go to a deciding set. Shelton\u2019s big serve is a weapon but Musetti is a crafty player and will find a way to get in return games as he did in their previous matches. I expect this to be a close match with the Italian edging it out.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Musetti in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a  id=\"26xGYD7cSEB3ZOxzK-hIfg\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2193552010\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" 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:'26xGYD7cSEB3ZOxzK-hIfg',sig:'QwJXqM3MBSoCEede4MNh-jma_2Eu4QG0GVm0Kto5qI8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2193552010',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Alex Michelsen vs Karen Khachanov<\/h4>\n<p><em>Damian:<\/em><br \/>\nKhachanov has been flying under the radar this event, but his form has looked solid since he claimed that Almaty title last year and he might be overlooked as a contender to go deep in Melbourne. He avoids the Tsitsipas matchup which had been troublesome for him in the past and instead faces the Greek\u2019s conqueror, Michelsen. The strong physical style of Khachanov might be a good counter to what the American is generally trying to do on the court.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Khachanov in 4<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Tope:<\/em><br \/>\nThe first meeting between Karen Khachanov and Alex Michelsen presents an intriguing contest between experience and youthful momentum, adding an element of unpredictability to the match. Both players have secured seven wins in their last 10 matches, with Michelsen&#8217;s victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round highlighting his potential to challenge higher-ranked opponents. However, Khachanov is in better form than the ousted Greek.<\/p>\n<p>This is poised to go the distance, but I envisage Khachanov&#8217;s experience ultimately giving him the edge against Michelsen&#8217;s tenacity.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Khachanov in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Ateet:<\/em><br \/>\nAlex Michelsen lost in the third round against Alexander Zverev last year but <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/13\/alex-michelsen-stefanos-tsitsipas-australian-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">now he is a better player<\/a> and will like his chances to beat Karen Khachanov. The Russian player is back to playing his best tennis but Michelsen would be a big upgrade from his previous opponents. The 20-year-old American is always great tactically and will avoid Khachanov\u2019s strengths.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Michelsen in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a  id=\"-4m-si1OTl9WP8n0_0gf0A\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2191458117\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" 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:'-4m-si1OTl9WP8n0_0gf0A',sig:'7P1gEcI7Oq2K1YNGf9WZwSxbPbX0I0mEaZGlVVas4z8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2191458117',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Lorenzo Sonego vs Fabian Marozsan<\/h4>\n<p><em>Damian:<\/em><br \/>\nSonego stopped the Fonseca party and looked extremely good while at it. He&#8217;s the slightly more reliable player compared to Marozsan, who very often just decides to end every point in a maximum of two or three shots, for better or worse. But you can&#8217;t underestimate his ceiling and in a matchup that looks really tight on paper, maybe this is just the Hungarian\u2019s spot to shine.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Marozsan in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Tope:<\/em><br \/>\nBoth players have shown strong form leading up to this match, which will be their first meeting. It will essentially be Sonego\u2019s high percentage of first-serve points against Marozsan&#8217;s impressive second-serve win rate and his potential to challenge Sonego&#8217;s defense.<\/p>\n<p>Given that the Italian was broken just once in the five-set thrilling win over <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/16\/australian-open-joao-fonseca\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">giant-slaying Joao Fonseca<\/a>, I\u2019ll back the Italian to advance to the third round for a third time.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Sonego in 4<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Ateet:<\/em><br \/>\nSonego played one of the best matches of his career to beat Joao Fonseca in the second round. The Italian was tactically spot on and used the drop shots and short slices brilliantly. Fabian Marozsan would be another tough match for Sonego and he isn\u2019t the most consistent player out there, but I like what I have seen from him this week.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Sonego in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a  id=\"iBg0aVTMSjpIqbZ4UGkH9w\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2194186244\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" 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:'iBg0aVTMSjpIqbZ4UGkH9w',sig:'RTC58aXYkc9s_8Sl_OJffGmoDeH2X2mRLuUsZUvSTpo=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2194186244',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Taylor Fritz vs Gael Monfils<\/h4>\n<p><em>Damian:<\/em><br \/>\nMonfils has a lot of momentum coming off that Auckland title and he showed he can still survive a five-setter despite being 38. But this is where the quality of the competition goes up so much and Fritz has enjoyed an extremely quick couple of matches so far. He&#8217;s so consistent and efficient right now that it becomes extremely tough to outlast him in prolonged exchanges and it&#8217;s doubtful Monfils would have the stamina for that right now anyway.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Fritz in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Tope:<\/em><br \/>\nFritz has been one of the outstanding players in Melbourne, advancing to this stage without dropping a set and conceding only eight games&#8211;a feat surpassed only by Rafael Nadal in 2011 and Roger Federer in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Monfils has also rolled back the years, going on a 7-match win streak and only yielding a set once. However, fatigue appears to be setting in for the 38-year-old, exposing vulnerabilities in his serve, with a first-serve percentage of 58% and eight double faults against Daniel Altmaier.<\/p>\n<p>Admittedly, Monfils&#8217; athleticism and flair can pose challenges, yet barring an extraordinary performance from the Frenchman, Fritz\u2019s consistent serve and baseline play will secure him a place in the fourth round.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Fritz in 4<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Ateet:<\/em><br \/>\nGael Monfils is on a brilliant run since the start of last week but I think it will end against Taylor Fritz, who has hardly lost any games this week and would be hard to break for the Frenchman. Fritz defeated Monfils six years ago at the Australian Open when he was not an established player and I see him winning in straight sets.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Fritz in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We wrap up the third round of the Australian Open on Day 7, with eight men&#8217;s matches to decide who reaches Round 4. As always, our writers at LWOT will share their thoughts on all matches. We split the day&#8217;s eight matches between this and a second article&#8211;featuring Jannik Sinner vs Marcos Giron. Predicting these [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1601,"featured_media":72986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[18656,18925,41826,2570,2363,16662,17963,18097,18800,144,15824,844,15516,10332,15491,2404,15736,347,15712,2373,2369],"class_list":["post-78469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-alex-michelsen","tag-alex-michelsen-predictions","tag-australian-open-mens-predictions","tag-australian-open-picks","tag-australian-open-predictions","tag-ben-shelton","tag-ben-shelton-predictions","tag-fabian-marozsan","tag-fabian-marozsan-predictions","tag-gael-monfils","tag-gael-monfils-predictions","tag-karen-khachanov","tag-karen-khachanov-predictions","tag-lorenzo-musetti","tag-lorenzo-musetti-predictions","tag-lorenzo-sonego","tag-lorenzo-sonego-predictions","tag-taylor-fritz","tag-taylor-fritz-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78469","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\/1601"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78469"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78475,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78469\/revisions\/78475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}