Tennis
2026-01-25 - Alexander Zverev vs Francisco Cerundolo
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : Australian Open Fourth Round
Sunday 25th January 2025 - Scheduled 11:30am
12:30am (British Time)
Preview
The continued dominance of Cameron Norrie on the professional Tour has helped Alexander Zverev reach the Fourth Round yet again at the Australian Open.
However, there are much bigger ambitions within the German's camp than merely getting to the second week of a Grand Slam and Alexander Zverev's team should be happy with the progress that has been made.
It has not been a perfect run with sets dropped in each of the three matches won, but the time spent on the court has not been too taxing, while Alexander Zverev will be pleased to hear the forecast for Sunday looks much better compared with what could be the brutal heat expected on Saturday. This should help the World Number 3 continue to manage himself and make sure there is plenty left in the tank when he will be expecting to face the top two players in the world to round out this Grand Slam.
The focus cannot be looking down the line and Francisco Cerundolo has plenty of hard court pedigree to deserve to be respected.
Upsetting Andrey Rublev in the Third Round means Cerundolo is unlikely to be overlooked and the World Number 21 has also beaten Alexander Zverev three times since May 2024.
All of those wins have been on the clay courts, including twice last year, but Alexander Zverev has begun to turn the head to head around- he won a match on the hard courts in Canada when Francisco Cerundolo had to withdraw in the second set, but more importantly Zverev has beaten this opponent on another hard court in Davis Cup aciton in November.
There wasn't a lot between the players in that Davis Cup match, but Alexander Zverev had been the slightly stronger server and that is going to be the key weapon in this Fourth Round match.
Experience could also be a factor that gives Alexander Zverev the edge- while he has reached Grand Slam Finals and been a feature of the Quarter Final and beyond, Francisco Cerundolo has only reached the Fourth Round (twice) at the French Open and had only reached the Third Round on a couple of occasions in hard court Grand Slam events, albeit both times here in Melbourne.
Francisco Cerundolo came through in straight sets against Andrey Rublev in the Third Round, but it was a match played on very fine margins.
This time those slight inches could go in favour of Alexander Zverev who will still feel there is more to come from his own serve, but who also has been returning the ball effectively enough to believe in his tennis.
Over the last twelve months, Francisco Cerundolo has lost five of seven hard court matches against top 10 Ranked opponents and his numbers have taken a significant dip in those outings.
He is unlikely to be rolled over easily, but Alexander Zverev can perform as he did in the Davis Cup win over this opponent and can move through in three or, more likely, four sets to take his place in the Quarter Final for the fifth time in seven years at the Australian Open.
Prediction
Look for the higher Ranked player to battle and dig in to find a way to win this one in three or four sets.
The Pick :
Alexander Zverev 3-1 Francisco Cerundolo
