{"id":96056,"date":"2026-01-18T10:12:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T15:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=96056"},"modified":"2026-01-18T10:12:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T15:12:43","slug":"australian-open-day-2-mens-predictions-auger-aliassime-borges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/01\/18\/australian-open-day-2-mens-predictions-auger-aliassime-borges\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open Day 2 Men’s Predictions Including Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Nuno Borges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 2 of the Australian Open sees most of the first round completed, with a whopping 28 men’s singles matches on the cards. As always, our writers here at LastWordOnTennis share their thoughts on the matches with you. We split the 28 matches between seven articles. In addition to this article, the others feature Novak Djokovic vs Pedro Martinez<\/a>, Daniil Medvedev vs Jesper de Jong<\/a>, Tommy Paul vs Aleksandar Kovacevic<\/a>, Stan Wawrinka vs Laslo Djere<\/a>, Andrey Rublev vs Matteo Arnaldi<\/a>, and Denis Shapovalov vs Yunchaokete Bu<\/a>. Predicting these matches are Yesh Ginsburg, Zain Mustafa, and Ilemona Onekutu. Who do you think will win?<\/p>\n

Australian Open Day 2 Predictions<\/h2>\n

Thiago Agustin Tirante vs Aleksandar Vukic<\/h4>\n

Yesh:<\/em>
\nTirante looks like a potential future contender on clay, but on hard courts his game is still lacking a bit. He has a higher upside than Vukic, but right now I’d expect the Australian here to perform better.
\nPrediction: Vukic in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Zain:<\/em>
\nTirante is a solid baseliner who does his best work on clay. On a faster hard-court surface, Vukic’s serving advantage and flatter strokes should be the decisive edge.
\nPrediction: Vukic in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Ilemona:<\/em>
\nVukic\u2019s comfort in Australia<\/a> and ability to take the ball early give him a platform to dictate. Tirante may battle, but the conditions favor Vukic\u2019s style.
\nPrediction: Vukic in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Adrian Mannarino vs Rinky Hijikata<\/h4>\n

Yesh:<\/em>
\nRinky Hijikata hasn’t found the consistency that we all know he’s capable of<\/a>, but he does play a bit better in Australia than elsewhere. Mannarino is out of his funk from a few years ago, but he’s also approaching the tail end of his career. I think he local can move on.
\nPrediction: Hijikata in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Zain:<\/em>
\nHijikata is an exciting player who, in front of a home crowd, could play some inspiring tennis. But ultimately, Mannarino’s flat game is not only a challenge for many, but also something that works quite well on the Melbourne courts.
\nPrediction: Mannarino in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Ilemona:<\/em>
\nMannarino\u2019s flat ball and ability to take time away can frustrate opponents who rely on rhythm. Over a long match, that awkwardness should disrupt Hijikata\u2019s flow.
\nPrediction: Mannarino in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Quentin Halys vs Alejandro Tabilo<\/h4>\n

Yesh:<\/em>
\nHalys is probably better in terms of raw talent, especially on hard courts. Neither player has looked in great form so far in the lead-up to this event, so it really could go either way. I think the match lengthens, which suits Tabilo’s variety over Halys’ power.
\nPrediction: Tabilo in 5<\/em><\/p>\n

Zain:<\/em>
\nBoth of these players have some great groundstrokes, which should make this an exciting watch. Tabilo can always be tricky given his lefty angles, but Halys is just the more refined player on a hard court.
\nPrediction: Halys in 5<\/em><\/p>\n

Ilemona:<\/em>
\nHalys\u2019 serve gives him free points, but Tabilo\u2019s movement and left-handed patterns can draw errors in extended exchanges. If rallies lengthen, Tabilo has the edge.
\nPrediction: Tabilo in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Nuno Borges<\/h4>\n

Yesh:<\/em>
\nIs Felix Auger-Aliassime finally ready to take his place as a contender at Majors? Getting through Alcaraz and Sinner might not be in his wheelhouse yet, but based on last year, the Canadian finally looks ready to get up to that point. I expect Auger-Aliassime to cruise.
\nPrediction: Auger-Aliassime in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Zain:<\/em>
\nOn his day, Borges can challenge anyone given his high-risk, high-reward gamestyle. But Auger-Aliassime, in the second half of 2025, genuinely looked like the third-best player in the world<\/a> for long stretches. If he keeps that momentum going, serves well, and has an above-average backhand day, this should be straightforward.
\nPrediction: Auger-Aliassime in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Ilemona:<\/em>
\nBorges competes well, but Auger-Aliassime\u2019s serve and forehand can create separation quickly on hard courts. If he protects his service games, control should follow.
\nPrediction: Auger-Aliassime in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 2 of the Australian Open sees most of the first round completed, with a whopping 28 men’s singles matches on the cards. As always, our writers here at LastWordOnTennis share their thoughts on the matches with you. We split the 28 matches between seven articles. In addition to this article, the others feature Novak […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1601,"featured_media":56967,"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":[1877,15551,10346,16049,12603,16061,4381,41826,2363,1219,15554,15250,15598,390,16700,17113,17114,2373,2369,18023,18861],"class_list":["post-96056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-adrian-mannarino","tag-adrian-mannarino-predictions","tag-alejandro-tabilo","tag-alejandro-tabilo-predictions","tag-aleksandar-vukic","tag-aleksandar-vukic-predictions","tag-australian-open-day-2-predictions","tag-australian-open-mens-predictions","tag-australian-open-predictions","tag-felix-auger-aliassime","tag-felix-auger-aliassime-predictions","tag-nuno-borges","tag-nuno-borges-predictions","tag-quentin-halys","tag-quentin-halys-predictions","tag-rinky-hijikata","tag-rinky-hijikata-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-thiago-agustin-tirante","tag-thiago-agustin-tirante-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96056","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=96056"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96106,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96056\/revisions\/96106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}