Cecchinato vs Djokovic 05/06/2018

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Marco Cecchinato vs Novak Djokovic Tennis Prediction

Marco Cecchinato’s dream run continues as he knocked out the eighth seed David Goffin to reach the quarterfinal of the French Open for the first time in his career, 7-5 4-6 6-0 6-3. With this win, Cecchinato took his season tally to 31/15, with 30 of those wins coming on clay.
This is an incredible achievement for the Italian considering he has been playing predominantly at the Challenger circuits until March 2018 and had never won a grand slam main draw match before entering the French Open this fortnight.
However, this quarterfinal run from Marco Cecchinato is not a big surprise as his performances and results on clay over the past three months are very steady and impressive. Entering the main draw of ATP Budapest as a lucky loser, he went onto lift his maiden tour title, and a few weeks before that, he won his fifth Challenger title at Santiago.
This is very similar to the run Tennys Sandgren had at the Australian Open earlier this season. The American entered Melbourne without having a grand slam main draw win to his name but managed to produce few upsets on his way to the quarterfinal (lost to Hyeon Chung).
Facing a Spanish opponent for the third time in three matches, Novak Djokovic put in a thoroughly dominant performance to dispatch the former world #7 Fernando Verdasco in straight sets, 6-3 6-4 6-2. It was his third straight-set win of the week having previously beaten Rogerio Dutra Silva and Jaume Munar Clar in a similar scoreline.
The Serbian #1 will now look to avoid his second consecutive quarterfinal exit from the French Open. In 2017, he defeated a left-handed Spaniard in the round of 16 (Alberto Ramos Vinolas) and lost to a single-handed backhander in the quarterfinal (Dominic Thiem), 7-6 6-3 6-0.
Moreover, the 12-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic lost his recent two quarterfinal matches at this level, against Tomas Berdych in Wimbledon 2017 and Dominic Thiem in the French Open 2017. Surprisingly, the last time he progressed beyond the quarterfinal of a grand slam was at the US Open 2016 (defeated Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the QF).
All things considered, this is probably the easiest and most comfortable opponent Novak Djokovic can get in a grand slam quarterfinal. In the pair’s first ever meeting, it would be the upset of the tournament if the Italian can pull off a result against Novak Djokovic.