{"id":96310,"date":"2026-01-20T08:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=96310"},"modified":"2026-01-20T08:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:32:22","slug":"australian-open-predictions-alcaraz-vs-hanfmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/01\/20\/australian-open-predictions-alcaraz-vs-hanfmann\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open Day 4 Men’s Predictions Including Carlos Alcaraz vs Yannick Hanfmann"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 4 action at the Australian Open<\/a> continues with several marquee second-round matchups, headlined by World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. Elsewhere, Tomas Martin Etcheverry faces rising Brit Arthur Fery, Francisco Cerundolo meets Damir Dzumhur, and Daniil Medvedev looks to keep building momentum against Quentin Halys. Offering their insights and predictions<\/a> are Andreas Pelekis, Zain Mustafa, and Tope Oke. Who will advance?<\/p>\n

Australian Open Day 4 Men\u2019s Predictions<\/h2>\n

Carlos Alcaraz vs Yannick Hanfmann<\/h3>\n

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Andreas: World No. 1 Alcaraz cruised<\/a> in his first-round match, and I don\u2019t expect Hanfmann\u2019s groundstrokes to compete with the Spaniard\u2019s. Hanfmann, however, does have a massive serve and has faced Alcaraz twice during his career. Yet, the German owns a poor 1\u201310 record against Top 5 players, and Alcaraz is simply on another level.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Alcaraz in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Zain: In his first tour match without Juan Carlos Ferrero in his box, Carlos Alcaraz had no problems, cruising to a straight-sets victory. While Yannick Hanfmann\u2019s big serve will provide a tougher challenge, the Spaniard should once again have no trouble coming through this match.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Alcaraz in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Tope: Yannick Hanfmann was extremely impressive with his serving and returning in his opener and could make this a proper duel with the World No. 1 if he can reproduce the same energy. While he has defeated several Top 10 players, none of those victories have come on hard courts or at a major. I expect him to nick a set, but Alcaraz will have too much power.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Alcaraz in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs Arthur Fery<\/h3>\n

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Andreas: Fery upset Flavio Cobolli in the first round, as he sits around his career ranking of No. 185. He should technically be an underdog against the veteran Etcheverry, but the Argentine had to battle through a brutal five-setter, and his form has gradually slipped after a strong 2024. This could be a prime occasion for Fery to string together an upset and progress in his young career.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Fery in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Zain: Arthur Fery had arguably the performance of the first round, backing up his good results from the qualifying rounds. Tomas Martin Etcheverry\u2019s tactic here should be to make the match as physical as possible and rely on his superior endurance. If he does so, I expect a final-set victory.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Etcheverry in 5<\/em><\/p>\n

Tope: There are still questions about how Arthur Fery defeated Flavio Cobolli in straight sets in his Melbourne debut, but he can\u2019t be lucky enough to possibly get past Tomas Etcheverry. The Argentine has a clear physical edge and the baseline solidity to dictate play over five sets.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Etcheverry in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Francisco Cerundolo vs Damir Dzumhur<\/h3>\n

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Andreas: Dzumhur claimed his sixth career Australian Open victory with a straight-sets win in his opener, though his game likely doesn\u2019t have the power and depth to hang with World No. 21 Cerundolo. The Argentine should reach the third round.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Cerundolo in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Zain: This is a matchup that Francisco Cerundolo has done well in before, dictating from the baseline with his big forehand. Damir Dzumhur showed a strong level in his first-round match, but if there is one area where his counterpunching game can fall short, it is against a consistent forehand \u2014 something Cerundolo clearly possesses.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Cerundolo in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Tope: This will be an exciting contest between two players capable of taking each other out, especially after their solid straight-set wins in the opening round. The higher-ranked Cerundolo can rely on his variety and experience to advance past the capable Bosnian in a match that could go the distance.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Cerundolo in 5<\/em><\/p>\n

Daniil Medvedev vs Quentin Halys<\/h3>\n

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Andreas: Medvedev could be on a bit of a renaissance run<\/a> in 2026, but remember that the 2022 Australian Open finalist was stunned at this stage last year by Learner Tien. However, Medvedev hasn\u2019t lost a set to Halys in both of their tour-level meetings and should be able to move to 7\u20130 here.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Medvedev in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Zain: Quentin Halys\u2019 aggressive playstyle worked quite well for him in the first round. But Daniil Medvedev is once again looking like a top-five player on hard courts, and if he continues to serve and defend well, the Russian should make his first Major third round in over a year.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Medvedev in 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Tope: Daniil Medvedev looks like he has made significant progress after last season\u2019s struggles, and his early hard-court form suggests he can be trusted to make a deep run here once again. Against Halys, who has never defeated a Top 20 player at a major in seven attempts, there should only be one outcome.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Medvedev in 3<\/em><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 4 action at the Australian Open continues with several marquee second-round matchups, headlined by World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. Elsewhere, Tomas Martin Etcheverry faces rising Brit Arthur Fery, Francisco Cerundolo meets Damir Dzumhur, and Daniil Medvedev looks to keep building momentum against Quentin Halys. Offering their insights and predictions are Andreas Pelekis, Zain Mustafa, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1442,"featured_media":93687,"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":[18958,18959,205,2363,5729,15513,2182,16403,498,15715,10623,15945,390,16700,2373,2369,12521,17182,6222,15610],"class_list":["post-96310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-arthur-fery","tag-arthur-fery-predictions","tag-australian-open","tag-australian-open-predictions","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-carlos-alcaraz-predictions","tag-damir-dzumhur","tag-damir-dzumhur-predictions","tag-daniil-medvedev","tag-daniil-medvedev-predictions","tag-francisco-cerundolo","tag-francisco-cerundolo-predictions","tag-quentin-halys","tag-quentin-halys-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-tomas-martin-etcheverry","tag-tomas-martin-etcheverry-predictions","tag-yannick-hanfmann","tag-yannick-hanfmann-predictions"],"modified_by":"Steen Kirby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96310","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\/1442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96310"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96319,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96310\/revisions\/96319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}