Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Jiri Lehecka Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Australian Open

Prediction published on 22/01/2023, 17:26  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 22/01/2023 at 18:26 in Tennis Predictions

Stefanos Tsitsipas finds himself the highest ranked player left in the Australian Open men's singles. The third seed takes on unseeded Jiri Lehecka in the quarter finals. The winner of this match will face either Karen Khachanov or Sebastian Korda for a place in the final. Tsitsipas is used to reaching the semi-final, he's achieved that feat in three of the last four years, so a loss in the last eight would be rather disappointing. The Greek has made a great start to the new year with four singles wins in the United Cup with three of them earned against players ranked in the top 30. Tsitsipas began this tournament ranked fourth in the world but is up to third in the live list. Reaching only his second Grand Slam final will see him go up to second and winning the title will make him the new world number one. This tournament has seen him stretch his 2023 record to 8-0 but in the last round he had to go to five sets to beat Jannik Sinner after winning the first two sets. Tsitsipas has won the first set in six of his last seven matches.

Jiri Lehecka made his debut in the main round of all four Grand Slam events last year. He ended 2022 still waiting for his first win. That's all changed in this tournament and here he is in the Australian Open quarter final. He was ranked 71st at the start of this tournament but is now up to 39th and can go as high as 29th if reaching the last four. The Czech beat Alexander Zverev in the United Cup but lost to Taylor Fritz. His only singles tournament before this Grand Slam was in Auckland where he lost in the last 16 to Cameron Norrie. This Australian Open has seen him beat get his revenge on Norrie, beating the 11th seed in five sets after being 2-1 down. The last 16 saw Lehecka come from behind to knock out sixth seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, two of his sets being won via a tie-break. Lehecka has lost the first set in each of the last two rounds. Back Tsitsipas to win the first set of this match.