The two favourites at the start of the men’s Australian Open will contest Sunday’s final and there is little to separate eight-time champion Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in the tennis betting.
Two-time defending champion Djokovic reached the final with a straight-sets victory against Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev on Thursday and is 4/5 to win an 18th major title.
Twenty-fours later Medvedev secured a place in his second grand slam final by dismantling fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Sunday’s Djokovic vs Medvedev predictions
Here are our tennis tips today:
[All odds correct at time of publication]
Novak Djokovic vs Daniil Medvedev
Djokovic goes into his clash with Medvedev full of confidence having never lost a semi-final or final at the Australian Open, but his love affair with the tournament threatened to turn sour when he injured his abdomen against Taylor Fritz.
The world number one was taken the distance by the American during their third-round tie but pulled through and has since managed his injury really well, showing no sign of the problem against Karatsev.
The 33-year-old Serb leads 4-3 in the head to head with Medvedev, but the Russian won their last encounter at the end-of-season ATP Finals in November which was his third victory in the last four meetings.
Which @DaniilMedwed stat is the most impressive? 🤔
2️⃣0️⃣ match win streak
1️⃣2️⃣ straight wins vs. Top 🔟
Grand Slam final No. 2️⃣#AusOpen | #AO2021— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 19, 2021
Aside from a 3-2 win against Filip Krajiniovic in the third round, Medvedev has won all his matches in straight sets and his performance against Tsitsipas was extremely impressive apart from a minor blip in the third set.
Medvedev has now won his last 20 matches, 12 of which came against top-10 players, but he believes the weight of expectation is on Djokovic’s shoulders.
He said: ”I like that I don’t have a lot of pressure, because he never lost in the eight times that he was here in the final.
28 Grand Slam finals for Djokovic.
The first man in the Open Era to reach three #AusOpen finals after turning 30. pic.twitter.com/3cewQfMi1h
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 18, 2021
“It is he who has all the pressure, getting to Roger and Rafa in grand slams. As we have seen, I can beat some big names if I play well so that is the main part. He has more experience, but he has more things to lose than me.”
Djokovic admits he has been “stretched to the limit in the last five days” despite being pain free against Karatsev, although it is possible the problem could resurface in the final, especially if it turns out to be a long match.
The love affair with the Australian Open cannot go on forever, so the world number four to win at evens is the first of our Djokovic vs Medvedev predictions and the next is over five sets at 5/1.
"Of course, it contributes to more confidence prior to coming into finals."@DjokerNole heads into his ninth #AusOpen final with an 8⃣ – 0⃣ record to his name 💪🇷🇸#AO2021 pic.twitter.com/ZokhIDVRMe
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 18, 2021
Their last two matches on outdoor hard went the distance in best-of-three sets and we expect an epic similar to Medvedev’s US Open final defeat to Rafael Nadal two years ago.
Medvedev has not been taken to a tie-break throughout the course of the fortnight and only one of the 21 sets played against Djokovic have ended 7-6, so we’ll avoid that one as a potential set one outcome.
With that in mind, the last of our Djokovic vs Medvedev predictions is for the underdog to take the opening set 6-3 at 11/2 just as he has done in two of their last four meetings.
Additionally, five of the last eight sets have been won by that scoreline and a repeat is not out of the question.
[All odds correct at time of publication]
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