We take a look at the Australian Open quarter-final match between Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev.
Photo Copyright – Steve Haag Sports
Australian Open 2021
16 February 2021
Melbourne Park
Quarter-final
Novak Djokovic 6/10 vs Alexander Zverev 13/10
World number one Novak Djokovic is up against sixth-seed Alexander Zverev in this quarter-final encounter. Djokovic has had some bumps along the away after his first-round straight-sets win against Jeremy Chardy. He dropped a set against France’s Tiafoe to win in four sets in the second round. After a medical time out in the third round against Taylor Fritz, many would have thought that his tournament was over, but he showed great mental strength to win in five-sets. In the fourth round, he overcame a first-round tiebreaker and a second set defeat to beat Milos Raonic. Zverev comes into this after only dropping one set in the first round of the tournament against Marcos Giron, he cruised through the next few rounds defeating Maxime Cressy, Adrian Mannario and Dusan Lajovic all in straight sets.
The pair have met each other seven times in the past with Djokovic coming out on top in five of those encounters, the most recent being this year’s ATP Cup. The last time Zverev defeated him was the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals in 2018.
Prediction: This will be a tightly contested encounter with both players playing exceptional tennis at the moment. With Djokovic dropping a few sets along the away and having to nurse an injury in one of his encounters, you would except that Zverev’s team will insist that he comes out of the blocks firing, hence the reason I’m going for Zverev to win the first set at 11/10.
Play of the quarters @6/1
Zverev to win the first set – 11/10
Serena Williams to win – 9/10
Ashleigh Barty to win – 2/10
Rafael Nadal to win – 9/20
Written by Venal Naidu.
