Karen Khachanov vs Frances Tiafoe Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Australian Open

Prediction published on 18/01/2023, 06:54  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 18/01/2023 at 07:56 in Tennis Predictions

16th seed Frances Tiafoe bids to reach the Australian Open fourth round for only the second time. He's takes on 18th seeded Karen Khachanov with the winner up against either 31st seed Yoshihito Nishioki or unseeded MacKenzie McDonald in the last 16. After McDonald beat top seed Rafael Nadal, Tiafoe is now the highest seed left in the first section of the draw. The American has had an exciting past few months. He got to the semi-finals of the US Open and earlier this month was part of the American team that won the United Cup. Tiafoe won all five of his singles matches in that tournament including wins over Lorenzo Musetti and Daniel Evans. He began this tournament ranked a career high 17th but is up to 14th in the live rankings. The 2019 Australian Open quarter finalist has had wins over Daniel Altmaier (in four sets) and qualifer Shang Juncheng.

Karen Khachanov is also climbing up the rankings. He began this Australian Open ranked 20th but is now 18th in the live list. He's in the third round of this tournament for the fifth year in a row. However, he is yet to make it into the fourth round of this Grand Slam. He also reached the 2022 US Open semi-finals but while Tiafoe was losing to Carlos Alcaraz, Khachanov was beaten by Casper Ruud. He's played two tournaments this year, his best performance being making it to the last eight in the first Adelaide International. So far this week, Khachanov has had wins over Bernabe Zapata Miralles in straight sets and a four-set win over wild card Jason Kubler. He's had two previous matches against Tiafoe and won them both. However, those matches were played on grass at Wimbledon and this is a hard court match and Tiafoe can get a closely fought win here.