Australian Open: Novak Djokovic vs. Francesco Maestrelli - prediction, form

Making his 19th appearance in the second round of the Australian Open Novak Djokovic faces Italian Francesco Maestrelli in Melbourne.

The 10-time winner of this event disposed of Pedro Martinez in his opener 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, while Maestrelli won a five-set contest with Terence Atmane 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, and 6-1.

Match preview

Djokovic kept it 100 on Monday, reaching the century mark for wins at this tournament with a comfortable victory over Martinez.

Along with that milestone, Djokovic also drew even with Roger Federer and Feliciano Lopez for the most Grand Slam singles appearances (81).

There were no signs of fatigue or rust from him in his opener as he hit 14 aces while giving up only two in a straightforward triumph.

On the day he won 93% of his first serves, with his fastest clocked at 199 km per hour, while he also had 49 winners throughout the match.

Only once since 2007 have we seen him exit this event in the second round, when Denis Istomin upset him in five sets, two of which went to tiebreakers.

While he did not give up a single return winner, Djokovic only hit two himself in his opener and won five of his 12 break-point opportunities.

It has been a long road for Francesco Maestrelli to get to this stage of the singles draw, winning three qualifiers just to make it into the opening round.

The 23-year-old has made the most of his opportunities, hitting 28 aces against his French counterpart to keep his magical run going.

This upcoming match will be the biggest of his career as he seeks his first singles triumph versus a top-10 player on tour.

Maestrelli has won the opening set in three of his four singles matches at this tournament, while coming from a set down to beat another Serbian, Dusan Lajovic in his third qualifying match.

To pull off such a massive upset this week, Maestrelli will have to be just as strong on serve against his 38-year-old counterpart, with the Italian’s serve reaching speeds of 220 km per hour in his first round outing.

He won 81% of his first serves against Atmane with 60 winners, but also made 45 unforced errors, an area that he will need to clean up if he is to defeat Djokovic.