The second round action at the 2020 Australian Open in the men’s draw will see some of the seeded players taking to court on Wednesday, January 22. Get the latest Andrey Rublev v Yuichi Sugita & Nikoloz Basilashvili v Fernando Verdasco tips, previews and live streams below among other matches.
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Andrey Rublev v Yuichi Sugita Predictions & Preview
This will be the third match between Andrey Rublev and Yuichi Sugita with Rublev having won both the previous occasions. Both those matches had come on hard court too including one at the qualifying rounds of the 2017 Australian Open.
Rublev is currently at his career-best of 16th in the world, and is in the form of his life. He lost an exhibition match to Stefanos Tsitsipas at Abu Dhabi to kick-start the season but following that he has won 10 matches in a row including two titles already. A win at Doha and Adelaide means he has doubled his career titles tally and he then overcame Australia’s Chis O’Connell in his opener here at Melbourne.
What was surprising was he dropped a set to O’Connell but more vitally he was bagelled in it. He then found his rhythm to win the next two sets but not without a hiccup or two.
Sugita, once ranked 36th in the world, made the final at the Noumea Challenger and was fortunate to draw the 231st-ranked Frenchman Elliot Benchetrit in his opening round match. What made it better was he managed to rout his opponent to set up this second round match against Rublev with a lot of confidence under his belt – a much-needed quality while facing a player who is on a 10-match winning streak.
Rublev should still win this but might be stretched to four sets again.
Tip: Rublev to win in four sets: 3/1 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
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Nikoloz Basilashvili v Fernando Verdasco Predictions & Preview
29th-ranked Nikoloz Basilashvili will be up against 51st-ranked Fernando Verdasco in their second round match at the Australian Open on Thursday. And this will be their third meeting with both having won one match apiece so far.
Their first match came at the China Open 2018 which Basilashvili managed to win in straight sets before Verdasco levelled the proceedings with a three-set win on the indoor hard courts of Vienna.
Basilashvili is coming off a tough first round win against Soon Woo Kwon, a match that went to five sets. In the lead-up to that, Bashilashvili also played in the ATP Cup and finished 1-2 on win-loss, with general struggles throughout the tournament. Verdasco made it to the quarterfinal at Doha and with a straight-set win in his opener against Evgeny Donskoy, he could even surprise Basilashvili here.
Tip: Verdasco to win: 4/7 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
Pablo Carreño Busta v Peter Gojowczyk Predictions & Preview
30th-ranked Pablo Carreno Busta should not have too many worries against the 120th-ranked Peter Gojowczyk when they face off in the second round match on Thursday. Busta leads Gojowczyk 2-0 on head to head, with both matches having come on hard court surfaces as well.
Carreno Busta had a 20-7 win-loss record on hard court surfaces last season which compares very favourably to the 9-16 record that Gojowczyk possessed. As a result, it should come as no surprise Carreno Busta starts off at 6/5 to win this in straight sets.
Tip: Carreno Busta to win in straight sets: 6/5 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
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Taylor Fritz v Kevin Anderson Predictions & Preview
While on paper, Fritz, ranked 34th, should hold the edge over the 122nd-ranked Kevin Anderson, bookmakers have the latter starting out as one holding the edge. Anderson is 8/11 to win this and his prior record is the reason behind those short odds. The South African had a woeful 2019 because of injuries but is a former world number five as recently as in 2018 and as a result, if fully fit, should start a favourite.
Fritz, however, could use his solid serve to his advantage and we might see a five-setter here as a result between two players who won’t look to give an inch.
Tip: Five sets in the match: 5/2 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)