World No. 4 Alexander Zverev will start his 2019 season at the Australian Open against the Slovenian Aljaz Bedene in the first round.
Watch & bet on Alexander Zverev v Aljaz Bedene live with bet365 here* on Tuesday, January 15. The Zverev v Bedene first round match will start at around 2:00 pm local time (3:00 am BST).
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Zverev’s Quest for his Maiden Grand Slam
The 21-year-old German spent his previous season as a permanent member of the top 5. He capped the season with four singles titles and a win-loss record of 58-19.
More impressively, he won the ATP World Tour Finals in London after defeating the likes of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. He also won the ATP Washington and Madrid Masters.
Zverev, at such a young age, has impressed a lot of spectators on the tour over the last couple of seasons. Given his brilliant form and perseverance, many pundits believe that he has what it takes to upset the top order and become the World No. 1.
At the same time, however, the German hasn’t been that clinical as one would expect him to be. For instance, his record at the Australian Open is quite disappointing. The best he has been able to do is make it to the third round.
Similarly, he has been handed shocking losses from the likes of Hyeon Chung, Joao Sousa, Ernests Gulbis, Malek Jaziri, and other lowly-ranked players. Bedene can definitely seek solace from this little fact and try to join that elusive club of players himself.
The other thing to look at is his recent fitness, which hasn’t been the best and that might put into question how he goes in the early rounds of this tournament.
Bedene’s Loss of Form
The Slovenian spent a vast majority of his previous season trying to make it past the early rounds but to no avail. He had a couple of successful stints in the first half of the season, particularly at the Argentina Open where he was the runner-up. He also reached the semifinal in Budapest a couple of months later.
His last tournament was the Paris Masters where he lost in the first qualifying round to Peter Gojowzcyk.
As for his performance in the season so far, he participated in Brisbane and Doha. On both the occasions, he lost in the first round.
Zverev v Bedene – Who Will Win?
The two players have met twice on the tour so far. Zverev has been victorious on both instances and presently leads his Slovenian adversary by 2-0. They last met in the 2017 Shanghai Masters where Zverev went up 4-0 in the first set before Bedene retired from the match.
Going into this fixture, Zverev is definitely going to start as the favourite to win. However, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see this one go beyond three sets.
You can watch & bet on Alexander Zverev v Aljaz Bedene live with bet365 here on Tuesday, January 15. The Zverev v Bedene first round match will start at around 2:00 pm local time (3:00 am BST).
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