Alex de Minaur is playing a really tough player in the opening round of the Japan Open, so let's see what might happen.
De Minaur has had an interesting season. In some ways, it's very similar to last year's when you look at the number of wins and losses; however, he did take a step forward this year.
Overall, he's played better and challenged the top guys more often, which a win over Daniil Medvedev proves. He's yet to really hit that next level to secure his spot among the best, but he's one of the more consistent performers across surfaces on the ATP Tour, and that's why he's ranked 11th right now.
He will face Jack Draper in the first round in Tokyo, which isn't ideal, especially since Draper had to play two qualifying matches to get into the main draw.
Head-to-head:
The H2H history is a rather short one as they only played one match so far, and it happened at the 2022 Wimbledon. De Minaur played a fabulous match to down Draper in three sets; however, hard courts are entirely different beasts.
It's Demon's best surface, and he's been pretty special on it this year with a 25-12 record. That's going to be tough for Draper to overcome.
Prediction:
Another thing he'll struggle with is the speed of de Minaur because he's capable of putting back many balls. Tokyo allows for aggressive players to really hit through the ball, and that will suit Draper along with his serve.
Still, his form recently hasn't been that great, and a player like de Minaur could certainly expose that. It's a pretty close match because Draper can be amazing while de Minaur, to me at least, doesn't have the same ceiling.
I still favour his consistency amid rather inconsistent play from the Brit recently.
Prediction: Alex de Minaur to win in three sets.
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