Australian Open 2020: Predicting the Men's and Women's Singles finalists
We are at the business end of the first Grand Slam of the year - the 2020 Australian Open. After innumerable triumphs, setbacks, upsets, and plenty of surprises, the Men's and Women's Singles semifinalists have finally been decided. Tennis of the highest quality has been on display at the Melbourne park but the semifinals are a different ball game altogether with little margin of error.
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In this article, we will aim to predict the finalists of AO 2020 taking into consideration the current form of players and the head-to-head record between the semifinalists.
Men's Singles:
5th seeded Dominic Thiem and 7th seeded Alexander Zverev will be featuring in the first semifinal in Men's Singles.
The Austrian ace Thiem has had to work tirelessly to make it to the semifinal. The aggressive baseline player easily surpassed the challenge of Adrian Mannarino in Round 1 before ousting Wild Card entrant Alex Bolt of Australia in a five-set thriller in Round 2.
Taylor Fritz gave Dominic a stern test in Round 3 but he was up to the challenge. The 26-year-old was dominant against current World Number 10 Gael Monfils in Round 4. Thiem's most significant win so far has to be the quarterfinal, in which he eliminated top seed, Rafael Nadal. The right-handed player defeated the Spanish legend 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (6) in an arduous and mentally exhausting quarterfinal that lasted 4 hours and 49 minutes.
Alexander Zverev has also been at his best. The lanky German defeated Marco Cecchinato in straight sets in his Round 1 clash. He ensured that Egor Gerasimov suffered the same fate in Round 2 and eliminated the Belarus player.
Spain's Fernando Verdasco stood no chance against Zverev in Round 3 as the German again won in straight sets. Zverev was lethal again in his 6-4 6-4 6-4 win against 17th seed Andrey Rublev of Russia in Round 4. The aggressive baseliner started off on the wrong foot in the quarterfinal against Stan Wawrinka and lost the first set. However, Zverev showed great fighting spirit and his perseverance helped him defeat Stan 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Both Thiem and Zverev have exuded great confidence on the court and possess phenomenal skill. However, the Austrian holds a 75% win record against the 22-year-old and also won the last two encounters between the two. The odds are certainly in Thiem's favour and he also has more experience playing at the top level as compared to Zverev, who will be playing his first-ever Australian Open semifinal. Thiem will be the favourite to win the semifinal in my opinion.
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Head-to-Head record: Dominic Thiem 6 - 2 Alexander Zverev
The other Men's Singles semifinal will be played out between familiar foes Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
The Swiss legend registered comfortable straight-set victories against Steve Johnson and Filip Krajinovic in Round 1 and 2, respectively. The 38-year-old played out a nerve-wracking Round 3 match against John Millman. Federer eventually won the five-set thriller 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8) against the unseeded Australian but drained himself physically.
The third seed looked nearly at his best when he defeated Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in Round 4. Roger pulled off a miracle by saving seven match points and defeating a spirited Tennys Sandgren 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3 in a marathon quarterfinal match. Federer even suffered a niggle in his groin during this particular encounter and had to take a 9-minute off-court medical time-out.
On the other hand, defending champion Novak Djokovic has enjoyed a nearly flawless campaign. He ousted Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff in Round 1 before demolishing Tatsuma Ito of Japan in the second round.
The Serbian ace continued his winning spree by decimating Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in the third round. The Belgrade-born player registered yet another straight-set victory in Round 4 with 14th seed Diego Schwartzman as his victim. Novak defeated 32nd seed Milos Raonic 6-4 6-3 7-6 (1) without much trouble in the quarterfinal.
Giving due consideration to their recent form, Djokovic is certainly the favourite to win the upcoming encounter between him and Federer. He also has a marginally better 53% win record against the six-time Australian Open champion and has won in 4 of their previous 5 encounters.
Head-to-Head record: Novak Djokovic 26 - 23 Roger Federer
Predicted Men's Singles Final: Dominic Thiem vs Novak Djokovic
Women's Singles:
Top seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia will be locking horns with 14th seed Sofia Kenin in the first semifinal of Women's Singles. Current World Number 1 Barty surprisingly dropped a set against Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in the first round but it has been smooth sailing for her since then.
The Ipswich-born player defeated Lesia 6-7, 6-1, 6-1 in Round 1 before ousting Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-1, 6-4 in Round 2. The 2019 French Open Champion overpowered Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in the third round but faced a stern test in her Round 4 clash against Alison Riske. Barty eventually defeated the USA player 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
Finally, the 23-year-old defeated 7th seed Petra Kvitova 7-6 (6), 6-2 in the quarterfinal to make her place in the semifinal.
Sofia Kenin began her Australian Open campaign with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Martina Trevisan in the opening round. The Moscow-born player then ripped apart Ann Li in Round 2 before defeating China's Shuai Zhang 7-5, 7-6 (7) in a well-contested Round 3 match.
Kenin cut short Coco Gauff's unprecedented dream run in Round 4 by defeating the fellow American 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-0. A comfortable 6-4, 6-4 victory against unseeded Ons Jabeur of Tunisia in the quarterfinal helped her secure a place in the semifinal clash.
Top seed Ashleigh Barty is the clear favourite to win this semifinal with Kenin having an outside chance of springing in a surprise.
Head-to-Head record: Ashleigh Barty 4 - 1 Sofia Kenin
4th seed Simona Halep will take on Garbiñe Muguruza in the other Women's Singles semifinal. This also promises to be a blockbuster clash.
The 2019 Wimbledon Champion Halep defeated Jennifer Brady, Harriet Dart, and Yulia Putintseva in Rounds 1, 2, and 3, respectively. All of these three wins were in straight sets.
The Romanian eased past Elise Mertens in the fourth round and completely destroyed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the quarterfinal, defeating her 6-1, 6-1 in straight sets. Current World Number 3 Halep has not dropped a single set in her campaign and is an extremely competitive player. She is an aggressive baseliner and one of the greatest returners on the WTA tour.
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Garbiñe Muguruza will be ready to give stiff competition to Halep in the semifinal. The Spaniard defeated Shelby Rogers 0-6, 6-1, 6-0 in Round 1 before emerging triumphant against Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic in Round 2.
The 26-year-old looked far more convincing in her 6-1, 6-2 win over 5th seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the third round. 9th seed Kiki Bertens was Muguruza's victim in Round 4. Finally, the Spaniard defeated 30th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Unseeded in the tournament, the Spaniard has certainly come a long way to the semifinals. She displayed some of her best tennis in the pre-quarterfinals as well as the quarterfinals.
Although the 26-year-old has won 3 of the 5 encounters between her and Halep, the Romanian would be the favourite to win the upcoming match.
Head-to-Head record: Simona Halep 2 - 3 Garbiñe Muguruza
Predicted Women's Singles Final: Ashleigh Barty vs Simona Halep