SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 05: Alex de Minaur of Australia plays a forehand in his singles match against Marton Fucsovics of Hungary during the 2022 Davis Cup Qualifier between Australia and Hungary at Ken Rosewall Arena on March 05, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Ilya Ivashka will take on Australia’s Alex de Minaur in the opening round of the French Open
Ivashka is going through a really rough patch and has suffered three first-round exits within the last two months. He has had a pretty disappointing season with no noteworthy performances so far. However, he did show glimpses of his talent at the Geneva Open last week, where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to No.2 seed Taylor Fritz.
The Belarusian ace will be aiming to build on that positive momentum and put together a string of positive results in Paris. Ivashka has a tough draw in front of him but he is quite capable of causing a few upsets.
Alex de Minaur has had a stellar 2023 so far and is high on confidence. The major highlight of his season was the title-winning campaign at the Acapulco Open, where he defeated top seeds like Holger Rune and Tommy Paul in the process of being crowned the champion. The Australian has been very consistent this year and he will look to maintain his rich vein of form in Paris as well.
de Minaur is the No.18 seed at the French Open and there are high expectations from him. However, he did suffer a minor hiccup recently at the Italian Open, where he was eliminated in the first round itself. de Minaur will look to brush it off as a one-off loss and stay focussed on the job at hand. It remains to be seen how far the Australian can progress in this clay-court Grand Slam.
Date – Sunday, 28th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Sony Ten Network
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Paris
Match details – First Round
Ivashka and de Minaur have played each other once before on the ATP tour. The Australian emerged victorious on that occasion in Atlanta and thereby leads 1-0 head-to-head. On paper, de Minaur is the favourite both in terms of form and rankings. We can certainly expect Ivashka to put up a tough fight but the Australian star should eventually prevail. We are predicting a win in four sets for Alex de Minaur.
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