Jiri Lehecka v Felix Auger Aliassime Betting Tips [22 January 2023]

Sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime is in the fourth round of the Australian Open for the third year in a row and will on Sunday face off with world number 71 Jiri Lehecka on an outdoor hard court. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two with the winner advancing to the quarter-finals where the opponent will be either fourth seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas (the highest seed in the top half of the draw) or 15th seed Jannick Sinner awaits. Despite advancing to this stage, the top ranked Canadian hasn’t been convincing in his three previous matches where he has dropped a combined four sets. He came back from 2-0 down in the second round to defeat unseeded Alex Molcan and also dropped the first set in his first round duel with fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil. To advance to this round, he got the better of the seeded Francisco Cerundolo 3-1, dropping the second set. Cerundolo is the highest-ranked player that Auger-Aliassime has faced in Melbourne. The 22-year-old produced his best-ever finish in Melbourne by reaching the quarter-finals in 2022 where he eventually lost to finalist Daniil Medvedev. That same year saw him reach his highest-ever rank of sixth as he went on a magnificent run of 16 straight wins with four ATP titles. He is currently down a place to seventh in the live rankings.

The future is bright for 21-year-old Jiri Lehecka and in just his second appearance at the Australian Open has made it all the way to the fourth round. The top ranked Czech player made his Grand Slam main draw debut in 2022 in Melbourne and followed that up by making the 1st round of every other major in the year. Lehecka defeated 11th seed Cameron Norrie in five sets to progress to this round (dropping the first and third sets) which in turn helped him secure revenge over the Briton who had defeated him 2-1 in the round of 16 in Auckland just days before serving off in Melbourne. He impressively defeated another high seed in 21st ranked Borna Coric in straight sets in round one  before dropping his first set in the 3-1 victory over wild card Chris Eubanks. His performance at this year’s tournament has done him a world of good as he is up 21 places to 50th in the live rankings which is a new career high. 

Both players go into this tie full of confidence after showing their abilities to come from losing positions in the previous rounds. Jiri Lehecka is in uncharted waters, having never been this far at a Grand Slam and that could be a positive as he will play with no pressure at all against the seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime. We however fancy a win for Auger-Aliassime with Lehecka, most likely in four sets.