Australian Open 2020: Hubert Hurkacz vs John Millman, match preview and prediction

Modified Jan 22, 2020 08:09 GMT

John Millman has played some very high quality matches in the past few weeks.

Home fans have a lot to look forward to at this year's Australian Open and no, we do not mean Ashleigh Barty and Nick Kyrgios' much-anticipated campaigns. It's the other Aussie surprise winners from the first round that have these fans just as excited.

Many home favourites (most of who have been regular features of the men's and women's tour) seemingly struck fine form in the lead up to the year's first Slam and are now looking to strike it big. John Millman is one such name.

The Brisbane native delivered big results for his side at the ATP Cup, before following it up with a quarterfinal run at ASB Classic, Auckland. Now, he had notched up a win against the champion in Auckland, Ugo Humbert, to set up a second round clash with Poland's 31st seed Hubert Hurkacz.

Hubert Hurkacz has also been in fine form heading into the Slam.

Hurkacz has had quite a start to the season himself, having made the semifinals of the ASB Classic where he fell to the same opposition that had gotten the better of Millman in the quarterfinals, Benoit Paire.

Going beyond

The two men will now have a chance to not only put the their respective losses behind them, but also to make the third round of the Australian Open for the first time (Millman reached the stage in 2016 following a retirement, but he would want to truly earn his spot this time around).

There is little to choose between the two men as they both posses a solid game from the baseline. Hurkacz, at 6'5" tall, does have a more explosive serve that might make life difficult for Millman.

Millman will have to rely on his consistency and baseline prowess.

Millman has beaten Hurkacz in two previous meetings, but it has been almost a year since the two last played each other (in a Challenger tournament in February 2018).

It will then be an interesting test for Hurkacz's newfound abilities as a tennis player over the last few months and whether he can get the better of Millman is anyone's guess at this point.

Prediction: Millman to win in 4 sets.

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