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Young gun Aussie Alex De Minaur will look to continue his staggering run of form in the biggest match of his career to date when he takes on 19th seed Tomas Berdych in the first round of the Australian Open. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 6:45pm (AEDT).
De Minaur has had an incredible summer. After winning the wildcard play-off for the first grand slam of the year, he was handed a wildcard to both the Brisbane and Sydney Internationals.
Starting the year outside the top 200, he was rated little to no chance of succeeding in either tournament, let alone at the grand slam.
The list of wins he has rattled off is mighty impressive though as he made the semi-finals of Brisbane final in Sydney. Steve Johnson, Milos Raonic, Michael Mmoh, Fernando Verdasco, Damir Dzumhur, Feliciano Lopez and Benoit Paire have all fallen at the hands of De Minaur.
The biggest scalp of those is undoubtedly former Wimbledon finalist Raonic. The way he was able to return serve and turn defence into attack with incredible groundstrokes has made him a player to watch this summer and rates him a chance against Berdych.
Of course, this will be the biggest match of his career. Stepping out under the bright lights of Hisense Arena, the 18-year-old will be under the pump from the get-go.
Berdych is possibly the most talented player on the circuit without a grand slam title, having made four semi-finals and a final (at Wimbledon in 2010) throughout his career.
Now 32 years of age, he has played plenty of big matches in his time, but has dropped off a little since Wimbledon last year, bombing out of the US Open in the second round and having a poor finish to the year.
2018 hasn’t started a great deal better with Berdych being knocked out of the first round in Doha, but he did win the Tie Break Tens exhibition tournament against some of the best in the world, so that has to count for something.
The pair have never faced off before this meeting and the winner will face either Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Benoit Paire in the second round.
Prediction
De Minaur has been on a giant-killing run and Berdych can’t afford to take him lightly, but there’s a reason Berdych has been near the top of the sport for so many years. He will be stretched, but his experience should allow him to take the win.
Berdych in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this first round match at the Australian Open from 6:45pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.