Australian Open 2019 Preview – January 23rd, 2019 at 1:30 am
With Roger Federer having fallen from the draw, the path looks pretty straightforward for Djokovic as he looks to get another career Australian Open title under his belt. After getting past some family stiff resistance in the fourth round, he goes up against Kei Nishikori in the quarters. The winner faces either Milos Raonic or Lucas Pouille in the semis.
Novak Djokovic v Kei Nishikori odds*
Novak Djokovic 1/10
Kei Nishikori 6/1
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 23rd, 2019 at 6:14 pm)
Djokovic drops but responds again
Djokovic dropped another set of his campaign for the second match running, as he was under a good challenge from Russia’s rising star Daniil Medvedev. The youngster really stuck in there well during the early stages of that match and actually fought back to level the match after having lost the first. But once Djokovic had given up that second set, he just slipped into a higher gear and rolled off the next two sets with some ease.
So he is back in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. His appearance here means that Djokovic has been to the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slams at least ten times. It is hard to ignore his favouritism at Melbourne Park really. Even though he had the dropped set against Denis Shapovalov in the third round, his response to that was to win the next set 6-0. Then when he had let that one go against Medvedev he responded in such stunning fashion.
Nishikori gets through and epic
Kei Nishikori had some match on his hand in the fourth round. He was taking on Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta and it was a long five set match. The Spaniard had taken the first set on a big tiebreak encounter (10-8) and then collected the second. So Nikishori had to really dig deep and kept himself in it with a tie-break win in the third. Moments like that can shift games but there really isn’t anything to choose between the two still.
Nishori edged the fourth set and the match was decided in a fantastic spectacle of tennis, a final set tie break. Nishikori just got over the line 10-8 in that, reversing his fortunes of the opening set loss. But at the end of the day that was an epic five-hour encounter that the Japanese player went through. It’s just about the worst preparation ahead of having to face up to an in-form Novak Djokovic really.
Head to head
Djokovic dominates the head to head against Nishikori. Is that any surprise? No, but it is a 15-2 lead that Djokovic has over Nishikori. The Japanese player won two of he first three matches between them, but nothing since his semi-final win over Djokovic back at the 2014 US Open. It’s been all Djokovic since then. Their only previous Australian Open meeting was in the 2016 quarterfinals with the Serbian winning in straight sets.
Prediction
It is hard to imagine that Nishikori will have enough in the tank to really get at Djokovic. The head to head between them says it all, and at the times Djokovic has come under pressure he has just found a new level. A Djokovic 3-0 set betting is worth a poke at 8/13 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 23rd, 2019 at 6:14 pm)
