Australian Open 2020, Day 7: Men's singles predictions
In the bottom half of the draw, we have seen Stefanos Tsitsipas crash out early, Novak Djokovic blitz past his opponents, and Roger Federer come back from the depths to defeat John Millman in five gruelling sets.
Those matches are in the past however, and now we should look to the future and what's in store for us on Day 7 of the Australian Open.
Marin Čilić vs Milos Raonic
First off we have 'the battle of the giants', as Marin Čilić takes on Milos Raonic. Raonic has been in impressive form thus far and has yet to drop a set. His best performance was his masterful win over NextGen star Stefanos Tsitsipas, which saw the Canadian outplay the youngster.
Cilic has had a harder time, with two of his matches going the distance, including his 2nd round victory over Roberto Bautista-Agut. Although Čilić leads their head-to-head, it is fair to put Raonic as the favourite as he is in better form and is physically fresher than the Croat.
Prediction: Raonic to win in 4 sets
Novak Djokovic vs Diego Schwartzman
Next, we have Novak Djokovic vs Diego Schwartzman. Both players have been in good form and this looks as though it could be a good match. Although Djokovic has won all of their previous encounters, the Argentine did push him to 5 sets a couple of years ago at Roland Garros.
Nevertheless, Djokovic will be too solid for the Argentine and will probably win in straight sets. Despite dropping a set in his opening match, Djokovic seems to be near his best and it will take something rather special to beat the Serb at the moment.
Prediction: Djokovic to win in straight sets
Fabio Fognini vs Tennys Sandgren
This is probably the hardest match to call. Though Fognini leads the head-to-head, is higher ranked, and a better overall player, Sandgren has been incredible so far and is playing far better than his 100th ranking.
He beat 8th seed, Matteo Berrettini, in 5 brave sets, before defeating former top-10 player, Sam Querrey, in straight sets in the 3rd round. Fognini, on the other hand, has been pushed to 5 sets on two occasions already.
As aforementioned, this is the hardest one to call and it could go either way. Nevertheless, I predict that Sandgren will win this encounter and continue his fascinating run in Melbourne.
Prediction: Sandgren to win in 5 sets
Roger Federer vs Marton Fucsovics
It would be easy to predict that Federer will struggle tomorrow due to his 4-hour match against Millman in the 3rd round. However, that won't necessarily be the case and don't be surprised if Federer wins comfortably.
He will have the full support of the crowd again, which he didn't have against Millman and he has also had his wake-up call in nearly losing that match. Though Federer was pushed to 4 hours against Millman, his previous encounters were finished in less than 90 minutes.
To put that into context, though Rafael Nadal has won all of his matches in straight sets, he has only played 1 hour less than Federer on the court. Federer has played 5-set matches before and followed them by straight-sets victories and this could happen tomorrow against Fucsovics.
However, the Hungarian has been in good form so far and may fancy his chances tomorrow against the Swiss maestro. He may take a set off Federer, but it will be the 6-time champion who will prevail.
Prediction: Federer to win in 4 sets
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