Tennis BETTING PREVIEW - Shintaro Mochizuki vs Stefanos Tsitsipas

Tennis

2026-01-20 - Shintaro Mochizuki vs Stefanos Tsitsipas

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

Shintaro Mochizuki vs Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tennis : Australian Open First Round
Tuesday 20th January 2025 - Scheduled 9pm
10am (British Time)

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Preview

He is barely holding onto a Seeding at the 2026 Australian Open, but Stefanos Tsitsipas may feel comfortable in the Melbourne surroundings.

He has dropped down to World Number 33, but a couple of withdrawals means he is the Number 31 Seed in the tournament.

However, Stefanos Tsitsipas has reached the Semi Final three times at the Australian Open and has also added an appearance in the Final in another tournament Down Under. This can only give him confidence as he looks to at least surpass the First Round and avoid opening exits in this event for the second season in a row, which would be a big disappointment to the huge amount of fans that come to support Tsitsipas.

Throughout his career, Stefanos Tsitsipas has tended to play his best tennis in the first half of the season and he is hoping that things have settled off the court, which will allow him to play his best on the court. A disappointing loss early in Adelaide will not have overshadowed what has been a solid opening to the month for the former World Number 3 and he is a favourite against this younger opponent.

Shintaro Mochizuki is still outside of the top 100 in the World Rankings and he has struggled for the consistency that will be needed if he is going to surpass his career best mark of World Number 92.

Eight losses in his last nine hard court matches will not have given Mochizuki much confidence and he was beaten in both matches at the United Cup and in Qualifying in Auckland in preparation for this opening Grand Slam.

Over the last twelve months, Shintaro Mochizuki is 1-4 on the hard courts when facing a top 50 Ranked opponent on the hard courts and he has struggled to be competitive in those matches.

One of the defeats was to Stefanos Tsitsipas at the United Cup and that match will just settle any nerves that the Greek player may have otherwise have felt prior to the Australian Open getting underway.

The contest was competitive, but Stefanos Tsitsipas created a lot more Break Points than his opponent and the numbers produced by Shintaro Mochizuki were similar to those he has put together against the better players on the Tour. Those have left the World Number 112 short of the top opponents faced and Stefanos Tsitsipas should earn the breaks he needs to cover a slightly awkward line.

In reality that is largely down to the inconsistency that Tsitsipas has produced as a return player, but he should be confident enough in this match up to earn the four or five breaks that may be needed to cover this mark.

Prediction

Lay the games with the higher Ranked player as he looks to frank the win secured over this opponent earlier this month.

The Pick :

Shintaro Mochizuki 0-3 Stefanos Tsitsipas

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Stefanos Tsitsipas - 6.5 Games at 1.81 with SportBet.One