The opening round matches at the Australian Open 2025 will begin on Sunday, January 12 with Holger Rune, Casper Ruud and Karen Khachanov among those expected to take to court in these first three days of the tournament. Here’s the preview, predictions and tips for these matches from Melbourne.
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Holger Rune v Zhizhen Zhang Preview
Head-to-Head: Rune and Zhang have never faced off before this.
Rune had exhibited signs he belongs in the top echelons of men’s tennis when he jumped to fourth on the ATP Rankings list. In more recent times, however, he has faced problems in maintaining the same levels of consistency and that’s something he would like to overcome quickly.
At the Grand Slam level, the world number 13 has made the quarterfinals at both, the French Open and Wimbledon but in the hardcourt competitions, he hasn’t done so yet.
And Rune enters this year’s Australian Open with no results under his belt in recent times, though he did end the previous season with a semifinal appearance at the Paris Masters. In 2025 he was beaten by Jiri Lehecka in the very first round of the Brisbane International.
He takes on Zhizhen Zhang, who is himself coming off a difficult start to the season.
Zhang had no difficulties getting past Thiago Monteiro in his opening match at the United Cup but then fell to Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz in the following two.
And then in the first round of the Adelaide International, he was taken down easily by Denis Shapovalov.
Rune might face some challenges here but should come through to the second round.
Rune v Zhang prediction: Rune to win AND Both players to win a set: 8/11
Casper Ruud v Jaume Munar Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been four previous meetings between these two players and Ruud leads 3-1. What’s more interesting to see here is that while all of Ruud’s wins have come on clay – one on the Challenger circuit and the remaining two in Bastad and Gstaad – Munar defeated him on the hardcourt of Tokyo in 2022.
Credit where credit’s due and it must be said that despite Casper Ruud’s obvious inclination towards clay courts, he has been able to maintain his ranking in the top 10 of the ATP charts.
In fact he enters the 2025 Australian Open ranked sixth in the world and while a lot of that is down to his performances on the red dirt last year – he won titles at Geneva and Barcelona – one could also quickly add that Ruud’s performances in hardcourt competitions is showing a bit of an uptick.
This was visible at the United Cup earlier this year where he defeated both, Tomas Machac and Hubert Hurkacz in the only two singles matches he played.
On the other hand, Jaume Munar featured in the Hong Kong Open in the first week of the season where he made the semifinals. He went into each of his first three rounds as the second favourite – odds of 21/10 (against Fokina). 7/5 (Borges) and 11/5 (Musetti) – and managed to win them all.
This is what will make him a dangerous player to take on and Ruud will hope he is prepared enough if this match goes the distance.
Ruud v Munar prediction: Over 32.5 games in the match: 13/20
Karen Khachanov v Adrian Mannarino Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been five previous matches between these two players and Khachanov leads 4-1. And that one win for Mannarino had come on the Challenger circuit while Khachanov won in four ATP hardcourt competitions including the 2017 Australian Open. They haven’t played since 2021.
Karen Khachanov looked to have dropped off the radar after having hit a career-best ranking of eighth in the world but a look at his progression over the years gives a sense of him being a consistent journeyman on hardcourt surfaces.
And this has been on display over the last two seasons too with Khachanov winning three such titles – in Zhuhai, Doha and Almaty.
Unfortunately for Khachanov, he hasn’t had a great start to the season, losing to Kei Nishikori in the first round of the Hong Kong Open but this would be a good chance for him to get going against the 36-year-old Adrian Mannarino.
Mannarino looked to have got a second wind to his career after he managed to win three ATP titles in 2023 but 2024 was a forgettable season for the Frenchman. So much so that having jumped up to 22nd on the ATP charts at the end of 2023, he plummeted down to 66th a year later.
And with no main draw wins over the two tournaments he has played this season so far, his ranking has gone down to 73rd. He could have his difficulties here.
Khachanov v Mannarino prediction: Khachanov to win AND Both players to win a set: 7/5
Tomas Machac v Sumit Nagal Preview
Head-to-Head: Machac and Nagal have never faced off before this.
Tomas Machac has had an interesting start to the season with two wins and two losses punctuating his campaign at the United Cup.
A defeat at the hands of Casper Ruud would have been hard to take but he came back well to defeat Hubert Hurkacz and Flavio Cobolli in the next two rounds. Machac was up a set in his next match against Taylor Fritz too before having to retire because of cramps.
The temperatures in Melbourne aren’t going to get any better and Machac would hope to be fully hydrated going into the tournament, especially playing best-of-five sets.
In his opener, however, he might not need all the five given he’s up against a player ranked 96th in the world and someone who has won just one Grand Slam match in his entire career.
Sumit Nagal is the only Indian in the singles draw and enters the tournament on the back of successive losses in the first rounds of Canberra Challenger and Auckland Open. The good news is he was able to get past Adrian Mannarino in the qualifier of the latter but up against an in-form Machac it’s tough to see him win even a set here.
Machac v Nagal prediction: Machac to win in straight sets: 7/10
Other Australian Open 2025 Predictions of the Day
- TBA
