China Open 2023: Daniil Medvedev vs Alex de Minaur preview head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick
Match Details
Fixture: (2) Daniil Medvedev vs Alex de Minaur.
Tournament: China Open 2023.
Date: September 30, 2023.
Round: Second round (Round of 16)
Venue: National Tennis Center, Beijing, China.
Category: ATP 500.
Surface: Hard.
Prize money: $3,633,875.
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime | Canada - TSN.
Daniil Medvedev vs Alex de Minaur preview
Second seed Daniil Medvedev will face Alex de Minaur in the second round of the China Open on Saturday (September 30).
Medvedev entered the ATP 500 tournament a few weeks after losing to Novak Djokovic in the US Open final. The Russian faced a tricky opponent in Tommy Paul in the first round and dominated the first set to win it 6-2.
He dominated the second set too and made the first break in the fourth game before doing so again to win 6-1 and seal his place in the second round of the China Open.
Meanwhile, Alex de Minaur was drawn against Andy Murray in the first round of the ATP 250 event and won the first set 6-3 to take the lead in the match.
However, the Brit bounced back in the second set and won it 7-5 to force the match into a decider. Murray started the final set strongly and had a few match points. De Minaur saved them afterward and took the set to a tie-break.
The Aussie eventually edged out Murray to win 7-6 (8-6) and book his place in the second round in Beijing.
Daniil Medvedev vs Alex de Minaur head-to-head
Medvedev leads 5-2 in the head-to-head against De Minaur. Their last meeting came in the fourth round of the 2023 US Open, with the Russian winning 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
Daniil Medvedev vs Alex de Minaur odds
All odds are sourced from BETMGM.
Daniil Medvedev vs Alex de Minaur prediction
Daniil Medvedev's quality and his recent wins over De Minaur make him the outright favorite to win this match. That being said, the Aussie should not be written off as he has done a lot better against top-ranked players than before.
The Russian was very strong on his first serve in his first-round match against Tommy Paul, winning 29 out of 34 points with nine aces to his name. He also hit 20 winners while producing only six unforced errors.
Medvedev's counter-punching style of play has proven to be very effective for him and his transitions from defense to offense, along with his high rally tolerance, will come in handy. He also has a strong serve which is quite difficult to win points against.
Meanwhile, Alex de Minaur produced an extremely resilient performance against Andy Murray that saw him serve eight aces and win 46 out of 60 points on his first serve. He hit 40 winners, which was considerably higher than his unforced error count of 16.
The Aussie, like Medvedev, is a counterpuncher but a lot of his strengths lie in his speed and on-court agility. De Minaur has become a bit more aggressive lately and can triumph over the Russian if he maintains a little more aggression.
However, Medvedev plays his best tennis on hard courts, and De Minaur may struggle to overcome him at the moment.
Pick: Medvedev to win in straight sets.