In the fourth round of the Australian Open, players with similar rankings but different recent tournament backgrounds meet: Tommy Paul against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. For both, this is a chance to reach the quarter-finals, but based on current form and their head-to-head record, the American goes into the match in the more favourable position.
Tommy Paul
Tommy Paul traditionally feels confident in Melbourne. Last season he reached the quarter-finals here, and a year earlier he played in the semi-finals. In this edition, he came through the first two rounds without losing a set, not allowing his opponents to extend the matches. Over the opening rounds he has dropped very few games and has hardly had poor spells. Since the start of the season, the American has won four of six matches, including a run to the semi-finals at the Adelaide International. His hard-court game is based on a reliable serve and a high percentage of points won on return against second serve, which is particularly important against players who are prone to fluctuations.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina came into the Australian Open in decent form after reaching the semi-finals in Adelaide, but his path in Melbourne has been noticeably more difficult. Already in the second round, the Spaniard had to play a five-set match, in which he let a lead slip and allowed his opponent back into the contest. The head-to-head history is also against him: four defeats in four matches, all on hard courts. Two of them were played at the Australian Open, including last year's fourth-round meeting, where he lost while winning only three games. In such match-ups his aggressive style often breaks down because of the large number of unforced errors.
Tommy Paul vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina Prediction
The key difference between the players is consistency. Tommy Paul has not yet dropped a set in this tournament and is winning his matches without sharp dips. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, by contrast, has already spent a lot of energy and again faces an opponent against whom he has no successful pattern. Given the best-of-five format, the advantage in reliability and experience of playing in the later stages of the Australian Open becomes the decisive factor.
