Australian Open 2019 Preview – January 24th, 2019 at 8:00 am
Rafael Nadal has been efficient and relentless in his Australian Open 2018 campaign and he moved past Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinals. That sets up a clash against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas who pulled off the tournament’s biggest shock so far in knocking out Roger Federer.
Rafael Nadal v Stefanos Tsitsipas odds*
Rafael Nadal 1/7
Stefanos Tsitsipas 9/2
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 13th, 2019 at 11:27 pm)
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Nadal was up against America’s Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinals, the man who had already knocked out two seeded players in 5th seed Kevin Anderson and 20th seed Grigor Dimitrov. But Nadal was a class above and powered his way through to the semi-finals with a straight-sets victory. Nadal has not dropped a single set during the campaign so far.
The Spaniard is looking for his second Australian Open title, with his only one so far happening back in 2009. It has been his least profitable Grand Slam in terms of titles. Nadal has lost three Australian Open finals since he took that win in 2009 the most recent of which was in 2017. But he is on top of his game at the moment and to be fair, the draw has been pretty kind to him. A Nadal 3-0 option in set betting is at 4/5 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 23rd, 2019 at 10:51 pm).
It has been some tournament from Tsitsipas then, the 14th seed. He needed four sets to win both of his opening two matches at the event against unseeded players. It was another four-set affair from him in the third round when he beat 19th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili. Then he went up against the reigning champion Roger Federer in the fourth round, pulling off the shock victory. That was another four-set affair, three of them going to a tie break.
After knocking off the in-form Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarter-final, in what was yet another gruelling match for the Greek player, Tsitsipas managed to continue his journey. Tsitsipas is actually the youngest player currently ranked inside the top 20 (he’s 20 year old) and this run has come from nowhere. He did reach the Canadian Open final last year in his biggest and best run at a tournament, losing that final against Nadal. Tsitsipas had never been past the fourth round of a Grand Slam prior to this run.
Head to head
The two players have met twice before and both of those were last year. There was that win for Nadal at the Canadian Open final as mentioned above. That followed a meeting on the clay at Barcelona, a match which Nadal also won. Nadal hasn’t dropped a set against Tsitsipas.
Prediction
Tsitsipas has been on a thrill ride and the way that he has dug in there through some pretty epic matches, he deserves full credit. That win over Federer in the fourth round was something very special for him. Nadal has been moving well, looking powerful and untroubled and that Nadal 3-0 option in set betting resonates with us at 4/5 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on January 23rd, 2019 at 10:51 pm).
