2020 Australian Open – Mario Vilella Martinez vs Karen Khachanov Preview & Prediction

THE FACTS

Where is Mario Vilella Martinez vs Karen Khachanov taking place? Melbourne Park, Melbourne

When is Mario Vilella Martinez vs Karen Khachanov on and what time does it start? Tuesday 21st January, 2020 – TBC (UK)

What is the expected weather for Mario Vilella Martinez vs Karen Khachanov? Light rain expected, 22c

What channel is Mario Vilella Martinez vs Karen Khachanov on? The 2020 Australian Open will be televised on Eurosport so it is worth checking their schedule for this specific match

Where can I stream Mario Vilella Martinez vs Karen Khachanov in the UK? Sky customers can stream this match on the Sky Go app. Alternatively, the match can be streamed to subscribers of Eurosport Player, either on the official website or as an add-on to an Amazon Prime subscription

Where can I get tickets for Mario Vilella Martinez vs Karen Khachanov? Click here to reach the official 2020 Australian Open ticket selection

Who won the last meeting between Mario Vilella Martinez vs Karen Khachanov? N/A

THE LOWDOWN

MARIO VILELLA MARTINEZ

• Mario Villela Martinez came through three qualifying matches in difficult situations in Melbourne to reach the first round of the Australian Open here.
• Not only is this Vilella Martinez’ first Grand Slam match but the first tour-level ATP match of his entire career at 24 years old after he could not make it through to the US Open main draw last year.
• A win over then world number 100 Jiri Vesely at a Challenger event back in April of last year was the Spaniard’s best result in 2019 where he reached a career-high 178th in the world.

KAREN KHACHANOV

• Karen Khacahnov has already played six matches this year as he won four of his five singles matches for Team Russia, and a doubles match with Daniil Medvedev at the ATP Cup.
• World number 17 Khachanov has been predictably usurped by his younger compatriot Andrey Rublev in the ATP rankings after he won the Adelaide International and Qatar Open before that.
• Khachanov used to be the higher-ranked player by some way between he, Rublev and Medvedev and it will be interesting to see if he falls further behind or can make ground this year.

THE PREDICTION

This match should be a procession for 23-year-old Karen Khachanov against a qualifier who has never before played an ATP tour-level match. This is undoubtedly the biggest day of 24-year-old Mario Vilella Martinez’ career and he could come out of the blocks hard to try and suppress a powerful opponent in Khachanov, but the Russian should have this over pretty quickly.