Tennis
2019-01-21 - Francis Tiafoe vs Grigor Dimitrov
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis: Australian Open Fourth Round
Sunday 21st January 2018 - Scheduled 1:30pm
British Time: 2:30am
Preview
After a poor 2018 Grigor Dimitrov made some changes to his support team towards the end of the campaign knowing he would hopefully be receiving some of the benefits going into the 2019 season.
One of those changes was the arrival of Andre Agassi who had previously worked with Novak Djokovic and so far Dimitrov does look happier around the court. It is only a small sample, but the Bulgarian has played well in the two tournaments he has entered in 2019 although he has yet to be really tested outside of the loss to Kei Nishikori in Brisbane.
I expect this Fourth Round match to be a much more difficult match than any Dimitrov has faced so far here in Melbourne and Francis Tiafoe is coming in with plenty of confidence of his own. It is also the 20th birthday for the young American so you have to think that brings an additional motivation for him although the numbers have yet to find the consistency Tiafoe would like on the hard courts.
He has enjoyed a good week with a big win over Kevin Anderson and coming back from 1-2 down to beat Andreas Seppi, but Tiafoe has to recover physically from that match. At 20 years old it will be easy for the American to not be able to produce his best tennis, but I expect the energy of youth to help Tiafoe give Dimitrov some problems.
When they met at the Canadian Masters in 2018 it was a very close match played between Dimitrov and Tiafoe which was won by the Bulgarian in three tight sets. The numbers on the hard courts are actually pretty similar in 2018 and while Dimitrov has been in good form this week, Tiafoe has also produced some very good tennis.
I do have to give Dimitrov the slight edge in the match, but I am not sure he is going to be able to win this in straight sets. I would expect Francis Tiafoe to at least win one set although he may lose a couple of tight sets that puts him under the cosh and sees the Bulgarian push on and win this match to take his place in the Australian Open Quarter Final.
Having a small interest on Dimitrov winning this in four sets is the call.
Prediction
The favourite may win, but it may need four sets to do that.
The Pick :
Francis Tiafoe 1-3 Grigor Dimitrov
