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Simona Halep in the third round of the Australian Open 2018 | (Photo by XIN LI/Getty Images)

Tennis | Australian Open 2022 | Three to see on Day 8

Tony Fairbairn

Tennis

January 23, 2022

Stefanos Tsitsipas [4] v Taylor Fritz [20]
Simona Halep [14] v Alize Cornet
Felix Auger-Aliassime [9] v Marin Cilic [27]

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – A mix of grand slam champions, the next generation of players and experienced heads are looking to book their place into the Australian Open Quarter-Finals on day 8 of the first grand slam of the year.

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Stefanos Tsitsipas [4] v Taylor Fritz [20] H2H & Match Fundamentals

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Stefanos Tsitsipas [4] v Taylor Fritz [20]	H2H: Tsitsipas leads 2-0
Australian Open 2022	Melbourne, Australia
Hard (O)	Prize Money: A$328,000
4^th on Rod Laver Arena (08:00 GMT)	Discovery+ Add-on via Amazon Prime Sign up for 30 day free trial of Prime Video and a 7-day free trial of Discovery+ Player

Stefanos Tsitsipas has had to dig deep so far to get to the second week but four set wins over Sebastian Baez and Benoit Paire have shown that the Greek is hungry to win his maiden grand slam in Melbourne. Now with Alexander Zverev out and the Greek working his way into the tournament nicely, he will be hoping this year is his time to take advantage and capture his ultimate dream.

Standing in Tsitsipas’ way of reaching the last eight is American Taylor Fritz who so far has beaten Frances Tiafoe and Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the quarter-finals. The 20^th seed has shown that he is capable of being in the latter stages of grand slams and is now looking to fulfil his potential. Can the American reach his first grand slam quarter-final and finally breakthrough in the men’s game.

The return will be a key element of the match with Fritz’s serve being one of the most effective on tour while Tsitsipas has had serving trouble in the latter stages of 2021 and this tournament. The American already tested Novak Djokovic last year and the Greek will face a similar obstacle in this match but the Greek’s big-match experience should pay-off in what is a highly-anticipated contest.

Prediction: Tsitsipas in five sets.

Simona Halep [14] v Alize Cornet H2H & Match Fundamentals

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Simona Halep [14] v Alize Cornet	H2H: Cornet leads 3-1
Australian Open 2022	Melbourne, Australia
Hard (O)	Prize Money: A$328,000
2^nd on Rod Laver Arena (Not before 02:00 GMT)	Discovery+ Add-on via Amazon Prime Sign up for 30 day free trial of Prime Video and a 7-day free trial of Discovery+ Player

Since the start of the year Simona Halep has been in dominant form having won the Melbourne Summer Set to begin the season and has gone through the first week having lost 12 games. Despite this the Romanian has gone under the radar as a potential winner and seemingly is relishing that status. Can Halep use this to her advantage to lift a third grand slam title?

Before thinking about winning the tournament Halep will have to overcome a rejuvenated Alize Cornet. The Frenchwoman is into the fourth round here 13 years after last reaching the last 16 in Melbourne and has achieved this in style having beaten world number three Garbine Muguruza earlier in the tournament. As this appears to be her final season on tour can Cornet finish her career in style?

Cornet leads the head to head and will head into the match with a lot of confidence especially with the way she is returning. Protecting her serve will be the key for both players but in particular for Cornet in the big moments as it tends to be inconsistent. The form that Halep is in sees the Romanian as favourite but this should be her first big test of the tournament.

Prediction: Cornet in three sets.

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Felix Auger-Aliassime [9] v Marin Cilic [27] H2H & Match Fundamentals

Felix Auger-Aliassime [9] v Marin Cilic [27]	H2H: Cilic leads 3-0
Australian Open 2022	Melbourne, Australia
Hard (O)	Prize Money: A$328,000
3^rd on John Cain Arena (Not before 03:00 GMT)	Discovery+ Add-on via Amazon Prime Sign up for 30 day free trial of Prime Video and a 7-day free trial of Discovery+ Player

After a tough opening couple of rounds Felix Auger-Aliassime had a very impressive performance against Dan Evans to show just why he has been one of the most consistent players in grand slams of the last six months. Now the Canadian is looking to make big strides to become a grand slam title contender.

Next for Auger-Aliassime is a former grand slam champion and Australian Open finalist, Marin Cilic. The Croatian knocked out Andrey Rublev in the last round to show the rest of the field why they shouldn’t underestimate him anytime soon. The big serve mixed with big groundstrokes is a dangerous combination and it will take something special to knock out the tall Croat in Melbourne this year.

This is generally a bad match-up for Auger-Aliassime as everything the Canadian does, the Croat seems to do that much better with a lot more consistency and power. This will be a match that will go all the way and experience should triumph here providing that Cilic doesn’t go through his mental jitters.

Prediction: Cilic in four sets.