Australian Open 2019 Preview – January 19th, 2019 at 1:30 am
It is on to the third round of the Australian Open in the early hours of Saturday morning and there is a competitive looking clash to come between Daniil Medvedev, who has had a strong start to the new season, taking on 21st seed David Goffin. The winner could well be facing up against Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.
Daniil Medvedev v David Goffin odds*
Daniil Medvedev 4/9
David Goffin 7/4
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 17th, 2019 at 10.36 pm)
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Daniil Medvedev completed a fairly routine three-set victory over Ryan Harrison in the second round. That followed an even more routine victory over Lloyd Harris in his opening match. The Russian has come out swinging this season it is worth noting. He made it all the way to the final of the Brisbane International where he was stopped by Kei Nishikori in three sets. However, Medvedev did take out Andy Murray, Jo Wilfried-Tsonga and Milos Raonic along the way.
He was due to line up a the Sydney International straight after that but took a break instead, which was wise ahead of the Grand Slam effort. Medvedev is coming off a career-best year in 2018 when he took three titles. This is just his third Australian Open appearance and he has already gone further than before. He is a rising star at just 22 years old and he did get to the third round of both Wimbledon and the US open last season.
Belgium’s David Goffin dropped the opening set of his second round match at the Australian Open against Marius Copil. So he had a little bit of extended work to do but he won the next three sets straight to pull himself through to the third round. In the first round, Goffin had cruised to an opening victory dropping only the four games in a success against Christian Garin.
Goffin’s best ever fish at the Australian Open happened in 2017 when he put in a quarterfinal appearance. Last season the fell at the second round. It hasn’t been the best of Grand Slam careers from him really. He really should be under some pressure in this one. This will be the first-ever meeting between the two players. It should be a pretty interesting one as well.
Prediction
Medvedev has come out firing this season and the fact that he is the favourite for this one shows that. He will get a challenge against Goffin who is capable of sticking in there and we don’t see the Russian banking a straight sets victory. More fitting appears to be the 3-1 scoreline in set betting on Medvedev at 3/1 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 17th, 2019 at 10.36 pm).
