Jannik Sinner faces Alex de Minaur in the fourth round of the 2022 Australian Open on Monday, January 24th 2022.
Which of these two youngsters will make their way to their first Grand Slam quarterfinal this year, will it be the higher ranked and higher prospect, Jannik Sinner, or the local Aussie, Alex de Minaur?
Alex de Minaur will be extremely happy with his performances this year in Australia, playing great at the ATP Cup, beating the likes of Matteo Berrettini, and then making his way to his first fourth round appearance here in the Australian Open. Alex has not really had a tough draw on his side thankfully, and in the third round he met Pablo Andujar, who he dominated against, beating the Spaniard in straight sets. However, with the business end of the tournament looming, the matches are going to get much tougher.
Jannik Sinner has been also in great form this week, showing us why he is a generational talent and will have an amazing career. Sinner played the qualifier, Taro Daniel, in the third round, beating the Japanese star in 4 sets. Sinner did lose a set 6-1 and was not really good on his second serve, only winning 35%. Sinner will not be happy with that, and I am sure he is training and working on what was wrong with his technique to improve coming into the fourth round.
This is going to be the 3rd meeting between both players, with Jannik having won both of their prior encounters. Alex is on fire at the moment, having shown us that he can play at a high level on a consistent basis. However, he is now in the business end of the tournament, where he has never really been before. Jannik has been in this position before and he has shown us that he can handle big matches. I expect a somewhat tight match at times as both will give it their all, but Sinner has the experience.