Brisbane champion Grigor Dimitrov will begin his 2024 Australian Open bid against Marton Fucsovics on Tuesday. First-round action also wraps up with world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz battling French veteran Richard Gasquet.
(13) Grigor Dimitrov vs. Marton Fucsovics
This is a tricky first-round match for Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov. The world No. 13 comes into Melbourne off an impressive win in Brisbane, where he defeated world No. 8 Holger Rune for the title. Still, despite Dimitrov’s level, Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics has proven to be a tough matchup for him. Fucsovics holds a slight 2-1 career lead over Dimitrov–although their last meeting was back in 2021.
The good news for Dimitrov is that Fucsovics, currently ranked 70th in the world, had a less-than impressive start to his season. He also played in Brisbane as a tune-up for the Australian Open, but he lost in the first round to the up-and-coming Italian Matteo Arnaldi.
Given Dimitrov’s current form, he should have a big edge on Tuesday. Expect Fucsovics to keep a couple sets competitive, but in the end, the Bulgarian should find his way into the second round.
Cheryl pick: Dimitrov in 3
Ricky pick: Dimitrov in 4
(2) Carlos Alcaraz vs. Richard Gasquet
Carlos Alcaraz is a two-time Grand Slam champion, with a U.S. Open and Wimbledon title on his list of tennis accomplishments. And still he comes into the Australian Open with a little something to prove. The Spanish world No. 2 bowed out of the U.S. Open in the semifinals to Daniil Medvedev. And while that’s in no way a shameful result, his post-New York efforts were less than impressive to close out the season.
Veteran Richard Gasquet has seen his ranking plummet to No. 131 in the world–low enough that he kicked off his 2024 season with a Challenger event, where he lost in the quarterfinals. He spent a fair bit of the 2023 season on the Challenger circuit, as well, so he has been off his pro level for a while now.
This isn’t likely to end favorably for Gasquet. He has a long history of performing poorly against the highest-ranked players. He is 0-18 in matches against Alcaraz’s compatriot Rafael Nadal and 1-13 against Novak Djokovic. The Frenchman might keep one of the sets close, as Alcaraz elected not to play a warmup event prior to the Australian Open. But even with offseason rust taken into consideration, this is almost certainly going to be one-way traffic.
Cheryl pick: Alcaraz in 3
Ricky pick: Alcaraz in 3
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