World number one Novak Djokovic will look to get back to his clinical self when he takes on American 23-year-old Taylor Fritz in the third round of the 2021 Australian Open on Friday, February 12, with the match likely to begin at around 11 am local time (12 noon BST or 7 pm Eastern Time previous day). Get the live streaming options of this Novak Djokovic v Taylor Fritz match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Novak Djokovic v Taylor Fritz Head to Head
In the two previous matches played between Djokovic and Fritz before this, the Serb has won both. Those came on the clay court of the Monte-Carlo Masters and Madrid Masters, both in 2019.
Also Read:
Djokovic Dodges Past Tiafoe
While a four-set win can hardly be termed as dodging a bullet, Djokovic did look like he was in more than a spot of bother in his second round win over Frances Tiafoe.
What looked to be heading towards a routine win when Djokovic pouched the first set, was turned on its head when Tiafoe showed extreme powers of focus and held on brilliantly throughout the second set to force it into the tie-breaker.
And when Tiafoe pulled away from 3-3 in the tie-breaker to win four points in a row to claim the set, it looked the world number one was in the contest.
Djokovic then had his chance again in the third set when he got an early break but with Tiafoe having the momentum and the hot sun blazing down Melbourne Park courts making life difficult for the players, he blew it away. Another tie-breaker followed and fortunately for Djokovic, this time around he had a better control of it.
In the fourth and what eventually turned out to be the final set, Djokovic moved ahead rather quickly as a tiring Tiafoe began to wane, winning 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 to move into the third round.
This follows an easy, straight-set win in the first round over Jeremy Chardy for the world number one.
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Fritz Survives Opelka Onslaught
Not that Fritz’s opening round win over Albert Ramos was too straightforward but it did look like that when compared with his second round victory against Reilly Opelka. Fritz needed five sets, of which three were tie-breakers, to make it past his opponent and seal his third round berth.
This will be the third year in a row that Fritz will be appearing in the third round of the Australian Open, his best ever performance at any Grand Slam as well.
In a match that went for over four hours, Fritz lost the first set and was a set-point down in the second set tie-breaker before he got one set-point of his own and converted it.
Opelka then survived four break-points in the very first game of the third and came back from 1-3 down in the tie-breaker to win it 7-4, but with Fritz 5-2 up in the fourth set, it looked like the match was heading into a fifth.
in the end, it did go into the fifth but not before Opelka broke back and then took a 5-2 lead in the tie-breaker. Fritz won five points in a row to claim that match-equalling tie-breaker and then won three more on Opelka’s serve at the start of the fifth set to get himself an early break.
There was no looking back from there on as Fritz broke Opelka and then went on to double that dose before claiming it 6-2.
Djokovic v Fritz Prediction and Tip
It’s not for nothing has Djokovic won 17 Grand Slam titles in his career and matches like the one against Tiafoe are typically outliers. Fritz’s serve will be tough to handle but Djokovic is one of the best returners of the game and once he has tamed that aspect of his opponent’s game, life should be a lot easier.
Tip: Djokovic to win in straight sets: 1/2 (bet365)
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The 2021 Australian Open will be played from February 8 to 21. You can watch & bet on the these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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