Australian Open Day 4 Predictions including Djokovic vs Faria

The second round of the Australian Open starts on Day 4 with 16 men’s singles matches. 10-time champion Novak Djokovic kicks off the group as he battles young Portuguese Jaime Faria. Our other prediction sets feature Carlos Alcaraz vs Yoshihito Nishioka, Casper Ruud vs Jakub Mensik and Kei Nishikori vs Tommy Paul. Damian Kust, Ateet Shrivastava and Steen Kirby predict these matches. Who do you think will move on?

Australian Open Day 4 Men’s Predictions

Benjamin Bonzi vs Francesco Passaro

Damian
Passaro got such a brilliant chance for a lucky loser when he faced Dimitrov who retired as soon as he went a set and a break down. He’s a competent hard-courter, but it’s not like he’s going to do anything crazy here. And Bonzi has been very solid getting the wins you’d expect him to get recently, only to run out of games against much better opposition.
Prediction: Bonzi in 4th

Atheist
Bonzi finally won against David Goffin and looked brilliant throughout the match. Francesco Passaro entered at the last minute as a lucky loser and now he is in the second round. I can’t see him winning against Bonzi though.
Prediction: Bonzi in 4th

Stone
Bonzi built up his latest quarter-final with a first-round win against Goffin, lucky loser Passaro is set to break into the top 100 as he benefited from Grigor Dimitrov suffering an injury and retiring in the first round. Passaro has been a really good Challenger Tour player lately, but Bonzi should be able to perform at a higher level.
Prediction: Bonzi in 4th

Ugo Humbert vs Hady Habib

Damian
Habib is one of the stories of the event so far and is definitely playing with house money from here. The pressure will be on Humbert, who may be looking at his biggest run at the Australian Open. The Lebanese has been serving bombs for months now and this is his main chance to keep this one close. But he will have to produce that kind of quality for hours.
Prediction: Humbert in 4

Atheist
Hady Habib has already made history for his nation by becoming the first man representing Lebanon to win a singles match at a Grand Slam. He showed that he is a good hard court player and if Ugo Humbert has an off day he will be in trouble. I still expect the Frenchman to win this given his superior experience and level of play.
Prediction: Humbert in 4

Stone
Habib writes history for Lebanese tennis, he came through the qualification and won his first round match, now he faces the seeds Humbert. Habib is playing the best tennis of his career, but Humbert was 39-25 on tour last year and will be looking to improve on his results in Melbourne. Humbert should get another win here.
Prediction: Humbert in 3

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Jacob Fearnley vs Arthur Cazaux

Damian
Cazaux reached the second week in Australia last year and has a solid opportunity to go far again, but his performance in the opening round against Baez was far from convincing. We haven’t seen that fire in his game for a while now and Fearnley plays such a complete, powerful game. The Briton is a tough nut to crack and Cazaux may struggle to attack him enough.
Prediction: Fearnley in 5th

Atheist
22-year-old Arthur Cazaux was involved in a five-setter against Sebastian Baez in the first round. It was not a clean game from the Frenchman as he made 63 unforced errors and will look to improve on that. Fearnley has improved a lot over the last year and played a solid match against Nick Kyrgios in the first round. Fearnley was superb on his first serve, winning 81% of the points. I like him to win this fight.
Prediction: Fearnley in 5th

Stone
Cazaux battled through five sets to reach this stage, Fearnley upset home favorite Nick Kyrgios in the first round, he is in a position to reach the third round now and his form indicates to me that he is ready to do so against a tired Cazaux.
Prediction: Fearnley in 4th

Novak Djokovic vs Jaime Faria

Damian
What a great opportunity for Faria and he put in a great performance against the slumping Kotov in the opening round. He has a good hardcourt game with the big serves and aggressive groundstrokes, but it’s all a bit too simple to bother Djokovic. Probably not a match that will tell us much about the Serbian’s form either.
Prediction: Djokovic in 3

Atheist
Djokovic was a little confused by the level of his opponent in the first round, but improved as the match progressed and played at a high level towards the end. Djokovic also looked animated, which is a good sign. Jaime Faria has impressed a lot, but this would be a big step up for him. I expect Djokovic to be focused right from the start.
Prediction: Djokovic in 3

Stone
Qualifier Faria, just 21 years old, has been fantastic at the Challenger Tour level and now he makes his slam debut, taking on the legendary Djokovic is another task, Djokovic had to struggle in the first round and is still some way off his best form, but an upset here still seems highly unlikely.
Prediction: Djokovic in 3

Main photo credit: Mike Frey – USA TODAY Sports