Round two at the Australian Open wraps up with No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev taking on American teenager Learner Tien on Thursday. An always combustible Holger Rune will battle Matteo Berrettini.
(5) Daniil Medvedev vs. (Q) Learner Tien
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev was diabolical in his Australian Open first-round match against world No. 418 Kasidit Samrej. His performance was poor enough that he smashed a net camera in anger. Medvedev eventually squeaked through in five sets, but his second-round opponent is far more dangerous than Samrej was–and if the Russian continues to play poorly, Learner Tien will take advantage.
Tien made headlines at the very end of the 2024 ATP season, finishing runner-up at the NextGen ATP Finals to Joao Fonseca. The American teenager earned his spot in the Aussie main draw the hard way; he came up through qualies. With plenty of match play in Melbourne already and natural talent, Tien represents a much bigger threat to Medvedev than his 121st ranking would suggest.
Medvedev is a three-time finalist, including a run to the title match last year–when he lost a two-set lead over Jannik Sinner. While he often has his heart broken in Rod Laver Arena, I can’t pick against him this early in the tournament.
Cheryl pick: Medvedev in 4
Ricky pick: Medvedev in 4
(13) Holger Rune vs. Matteo Berrettini
Matteo Berrettini just missed out on a seed for this tournament. The 28-year-old sits at No. 34 in the world and he had a good if not stellar 2024 season. He bagged three titles, but they were 250s on clay and grass. Berrettini has a combined 10 titles on the “natural” surfaces and none on hard courts. That is partly because he is injury prone and frequently finds himself sidelined during hard-court swings.
Holger Rune has not historically been a favorable matchup for Berrettini. The two men have met five times; Rune has won all but their first match back in 2022. The 21-year-old Dane has struggled with consistency in his young career, but he posted solid results last year and finds himself ranked 13th in the world. Rune unexpectedly went five sets in the first round against Zhizhen Zhang, so he might be more vulnerable than usual–but he has played Berrettini enough to suggest that there is a matchup issue for the Italian.
Cheryl pick: Rune in 4
Ricky pick: Rune in 5
WWW?