The 2024 Australian Open has finally reached its fourth round, with only a few left to be decided. In section 8, Tommy Paul and Miomir Kecmanovic are two such prospects yet to battle it out to reach the fourth round. The American player and the Serbian player are up for an epic battle on Saturday.
As defending champion Novak Djokovic continues his ‘Tour de Force’, several youngsters want to snatch his crown. Paul and Miomir, who are yet to make it to the finals of any Grand Slam event, also dare to dream so big. But first, they will have to win their clash and overcome another potential big match against Carlos Alcaraz.
Paul won his first-round match against Grégoire Barrère quite convincingly. With 6-2, 6-3, and 6-3 scores, Paul won his first match in straight sets. His second match was against British player Jack Draper, who put up some amount of fight against him. Paul won the first set 6-2 before losing the next set 6-3. He, however, roared back into the game with 6-3, 7-5, winning the match with one set to spare.
Tommy Paul reached his first Grand Slam semi-finals in the 2023 Majors, where he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. He would like to advance his prospects this year and go all the way.
Kecmanovic started off losing a set against the Japanese Yosuke Watanuki by 4-6. He won the next three sets in his first-round match by 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 and advanced to the next round. There, he played against German player Jan-Lennard Struff, who put up an incredible fight. The game was hung till the end until Kecmanovic won it in tie-breakers. The score was 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 7-6 (11-9).
When they play against each other on Saturday, Tommy Paul will have a clear advantage due to his consistency and performance in recent years. Whereas, Kecmanovic will rely on his recent form, carrying it forward from the Stockholm Open last year where he reached the semi-finals. Alcaraz, who will most likely defeat the 18-year-old Shang Juncheng, will be waiting in the fourth round for either one of them.
How do Tommy Paul and Miomir Kecmanovic fare next to each other?
Tommy Paul’s current ATP ranking is 14, whereas Kecmanovic’s is 60. While Paul has an advantage over his opponent there, the Serbian is two years younger than Paul. At 24 years of age, Kecmanovic may just surprise Paul with his agility, speed, and exuberance. However, as things stand now, Paul seems to be the favorite, despite Kecmanovic taking an edge over the past encounters.
Paul and Kecmanovic played against one another three times before, and the Serb won two of them. Although, on hard court, it’s 1-1. Paul won the last encounter between them in the Cincinnati Open in 2023, where the score was 7-5, 7-6 (7-2). However, at the Australian Open 2nd Round in 2022, Paul lost to Kecmanovic 7-6, 7-5, 7-6. Before that in the New York Open in 2020, Kecmanovic won 6-4, 6-2 against Paul in the Round of 32 match.
Miomir Kecmanovic might be very aggressive in his play but Tommy Paul tends to convert 75% of his serves to win and 60% of his first serves are effective. In comparison, Kecmanovic’s serve-to-win percentage is 60% and first-serve success is 48%.
Tommy Paul has a tricky battle on his plate with Kecmanovic but he should get through to set up a lip-smacking clash with Carlos Alcaraz.
They will be playing at the Margaret Court Arena on Saturday at noon local time. It will be broadcast and commentated on Channel 9 in Australia and ESPN and Tennis Channel in the USA.
