Grigor Dimitrov faces Benoit Paire in the second round of the 2022 Australian Open on Thursday, January 20th 2022.
Two experienced and flamboyant players will play against each other in this entertaining second round encounter, who will show up in better form on the day at the Australian Open?
Benoit Paire had to come through an extremely tough opening round match, beating the hard hitting Thiago Monteiro in 5 sets. Benoit was obviously the better player if they were both at their best, but the Frenchman was very up and down in the match. Benoit has been one of the most passive players on the ATP Tour in the last year or two, and you never know what to expect from him when he comes on court. One day he can be fighting at his best, and others he’s just waiting for his opponents to get the win.
Grigor Dimitrov played a somewhat solid opening match here at the Australian Open, beating Jiri Lehecka in 4 sets. Grigor was good on his first and second serve, but he was not as clinical as he would have liked to be on break point opportunities, only converting 3 out of 12. Grigor knows that he can go very far here in Australia if he is at his best, but similarly to Benoit Paire, it is always hard to know what level he is going to come out and play with in any match as he is a very up and down player.
This is going to be the 5th meeting between both players, with Benoit having won 3 of their 4 prior encounters. Although Benoit has won 3 out of 4, they have not met since 2015. Back then, Benoit was the better player. However, since then, Benoit has really gone downhill, especially since 2020. Benoit does not seem to care much for his career anymore, seemingly showing up to tournaments just for the check before he goes on his next holiday. I expect for Dimitrov to cruise here.