Tennis
2019-01-22 - Roberto Bautista Agut vs Stefanos Tsitsipas
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis: Australian Open Quarter Final
Tuesday 22nd January 2018 - Scheduled 12:30pm
British Time: 1:30am
Preview
There will be an element of surprise in seeing these two players competing for a spot in the Australian Open Semi Final and the absence of Roger Federer from his section of the draw is an unfamiliar sight at this tournament in recent years. The two time defending Champion was dumped out by Stefanos Tsitsipas after missing a host of break points and it is going to be up to the Greek to regain his energy and to level out his physical and emotional effort put into the Fourth Round win over Federer.
So many have compared it to Federer's own big moment back in 2001 when he was able to beat Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in the Fourth Round, but what is less likely to be put out is that Federer actually lost his next match at that tournament. He wouldn't go on and win his first Grand Slam until two years later when beating Mark Philippoussis at that same tournament.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is going to receive plenty of support in this Quarter Final which may make things easier for him to deal with the emotion of beating Federer in the last Round. Back in 2001 Federer had to play local hope Tim Henman in the Wimbledon Quarter Final after beating Sampras, but it is still a huge test for Tsitsipas to back up his biggest Grand Slam win when many suggest it could be a passing of the torch moment.
He may also benefit from the fact he is playing Roberto Bautista Agut who at 30 years old is playing in his first Grand Slam Quarter Final too. It has been a very difficult tournament for the Spaniard as he has needed to dig deep three times already to win a deciding fifth set to move through the Rounds, but confidence has to be high having won the title in Doha prior to the four wins he has put together at the Australian Open.
Fatigue and accumulation of the time spent on court is an obvious concern for Roberto Bautista Agut, but I do think he is playing at an incredible standard and can ride the momentum to success. Both players have been superb when it comes to serving at this tournament, but Bautista Agut has a real advantage when it comes to the return of serve having broken at 24.7% this week compared with Tsitsipas who is down at 13.3%.
The Spaniard has created at least ten break points in every match he has played and is clearly the more comfortable returner on the hard courts. Some may say the number of break points created is not a major factor considering the time Bautista Agut has spent on court, but he has only played two more sets than Tsitsipas who has not created more than seven break points in three of the four matches he has played.
Tsitsipas was doing something similar in his run to the Canadian Masters Final back in August 2018 and he does seem to have a knack for playing the big points very, very well. He is going to need all of that to win this one though and I think his opponent is playing at a very high standard and looks to have the real edge when it comes to the return of serve that can see him win this as the underdog in the match.
Prediction
I will back the underdog here.
The Pick :
Roberto Bautista Agut 3-1 Stefanos Tsitsipas
