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Jannik Sinner vs. Tristan Schoolkate: Australian Open Preview, Odds & Predictions
In Thursday's second-round encounter, reigning champion Jannik Sinner will face off against local wild card Tristan Schoolkate to win the Australian Open for the ninth year.
The top seed extended his Major winning streak to 15 matches after defeating Nicolas Jarry in the first match of his title defense in Australia. Now he faces an opponent whose only major victory is against Taro Daniel, and he hopes to extend that streak to 16 matches.
Previous Matches and Head-to-head
Though Sinner started his championship defense on Monday without losing a set in a straight-sets triumph against Jarry, the match was easy.
Even though the Italian was expected to win in four sets, the Chilean player continued taking a set off the top men's tour player. The world number one served with little error, preventing both breakpoint opportunities that his opponent created. He also capitalized on the deliveries of the world number 36, converting two out of five break points.
Sinner joins Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic as the fourth male player since 2000 to achieve 15 hard-court victories at Grand Slams. Jarry appeared rattled after over two hours without a break of serve in the second-set tie-break, as shown by a feeble performance in the third set.
Assuming everything goes according to plan, the 23-year-old should win his sixteenth consecutive match against his Australian opponent.
There may have been doubts about Sinner, given he has never defended a Grand Slam title before; however, the top seed showed no signs of weakness in Monday's victory, suggesting he will not give up his dominant position easily, even though he had no prior competitive experience.
The reigning champion isn't the kind to let standards drop no matter who he's playing, so the guy making his debut in Australia and appearing in only his third Major match will have a severe baptism of fire from the defending champion's baseline performance.
Unusually, Schoolkate has won two Slams against Daniel—once at Flushing Meadows after coming back from two sets down and again on home court—in a four-set thriller.
Another comeback was displayed in Monday's triumph, but it was from a ssetdownthis time. The 23-year-old beat her opponent 6-7(6) 7-6(4) 6-1 6-4 after overcoming a set deficit in the first tie-break, clinching the second shoot-out. She then went on to win sets three and four.
In the first round, the world No. 173 shot an incredible 23 aces past Daniel, but he only converted two of his ten breakpoint chances.
Unless Schoolkate steps up his game, Sinner shouldn't be as wasteful in these circumstances against an opponent that won 56% of points on his second deliveries and 54% of his first serves in round one.
Sinner, the reigning champion of the Aussie Open, will be the overwhelming favorite in their upcoming second-round matchup against Schoolkate. This will be their first meeting.
However, the local player's ability to challenge the top seed in his first clash against a top-10 opponent will be fascinating to watch as he makes his debut Down Under.
Our Predictions
Sinner to win in three sets @ 1.30 on Sky247.ng
Even though Schoolkate will have the local crowd cheering him on, Sinner should be unable to stop the defending champion from claiming his 16th Major hard-court title. This would put Schoolkate in a third-round matchup with Marcos Giron or Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
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