Otto Virtanen vs Arthur Fils Prediction & Picks - ATP Australian Open

Prediction published on 1/10/25, 10:36 AM  by Tyler Doty | Modified on 1/10/25 at 10:39 AM in Tennis Picks

The first Grand Slam of the season opens this week, and the first round features 23-year-old Finn Otto Virtanen and 20-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils. Otto Virtanen hasn't played since November, when he lost in the quarter-finals of the Helsinki Challenger in front of his home crowd to Denis Yevseyev, ranked 250th in the world. He therefore kicks off his season with the first round of the Australian Open, in which he is taking part for the first time in his career.

Arthur Fils, meanwhile, is the tournament's number 20 seed. Concluding his season with a rather disappointing showing at the ATP Next Gen Finals, where he failed to earn the points needed to qualify for the semi-finals, the Frenchman already tried his luck in Hong Kong last week. He won his Round of 8 match against Zizou Bergs in 2 sets, but was then stopped in the quarter-finals by his compatriot Alexandre Muller. He therefore needs to reassure himself in this first round by winning it without losing too many feathers for the rest of the tournament, in order to reach at least the second round for the second year running.