The draw is out for the 2026 Australian Open, but who will lift the men\u2019s singles title at the year\u2019s first Grand Slam in Melbourne?<\/p>\n
Main draw action at the hard-court major at Melbourne Park will begin on Sunday 18 January, and the men\u2019s singles final will be played on Sunday 1 February.<\/p>\n
Jack Draper and Holger Rune, both of whom would have been seeded, have withdrawn. Arthur Fils, Emil Ruusuvuori and Thanasi Kokkinakis have also pulled out.<\/p>\n
Here, we make our predictions for the Australian Open<\/a> men\u2019s singles draw.<\/p>\n Projected QF: Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs Alex de Minaur (6)<\/p>\n Six-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz is chasing his maiden title at the Australian Open, which would see him become the youngest man to win each of the four majors in the Open Era.<\/p>\n The world No 1 has a favourable-looking path to the quarter-finals: 1R \u2013 Adam Walton, 2R \u2013 Yannick Hanfmann, 3R \u2013 Corentin Moutet (No 32), 4R \u2013 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (No 14) or Tommy Paul (No 19).<\/p>\n Alex de Minaur reached the quarter-finals at his home major for the first time last year, and the No 6 seed is the favourite to meet Alcaraz in the last eight.<\/p>\n The Aussie does not have an easy draw, with Matteo Berrettini in the first round, 29th seed Frances Tiafoe his projected third round opponent, and 10th seed Alexander Bublik and 20th seed Flavio Cobolli his potential fourth round opponents. It is hard, though, to look past de Minaur\u2019s consistency.<\/p>\n Quarter-final prediction: Alcaraz defeats de Minaur\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Projected QF: Alexander Zverev (3) vs Felix Auger-Aliassime (7)<\/p>\n Alexander Zverev was a runner-up to Jannik Sinner at the 2025 Australian Open, and the German faces a tricky opener against 41st-ranked Gabriel Diallo.<\/p>\n That aside, it is not a bad draw for the No 3 seed, who could meet Alexei Popyrin in the second round, 26th seed Cameron Norrie in the third round, and 13th seed Andrey Rublev in the fourth round.<\/p>\n Zverev\u2019s projected quarter-final opponent is No 7 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, an Australian Open quarter-finalist in 2022 and a two-time US Open semi-finalist.<\/p>\n Auger-Aliassime was superb in the latter part of 2025, but he could face dangerous 25th seed Learner Tien in the third round and a resurgent Daniil Medvedev in the last 16.<\/p>\n Medvedev, the 11th seed, holds a 7-2 record against Auger-Aliassime, while he has won 13 of his last 16 matches with potential quarter-final opponent Zverev.<\/p>\n The 2021 US Open winner started 2026 by winning the Brisbane International, and as a three-time Australian Open finalist, he has proven he can go very deep here.<\/p>\n Quarter-final prediction: Medvedev defeats Zverev<\/em><\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner? Roger Federer reveals who he wants to win Australian Open<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Australian Open: Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner\u2019s predicted pathways to blockbuster showdown<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n Projected QF: Lorenzo Musetti (5) vs Novak Djokovic (4)<\/p>\n Novak Djokovic, the No 4 seed, will aim to win a record-extending 11th Australian Open crown, and his first since 2023.<\/p>\n The 38-year-old\u00a0 Serbian\u2019s early path looks manageable: 1R \u2013 Pedro Martinez, 2R \u2013 Terence Atmane, 3R \u2013 Brandon Nakashima. He could then face a potentially tricky fourth round clash with 16th seed Jakub Mensik.<\/p>\n The 24-time Grand Slam winner could meet fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti or ninth seed Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals. Musetti and Fritz are projected to meet in the last 16, but neither have an easy draw.<\/p>\n Musetti could play 31st seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, or dangerous unseeded stars Grigor Dimitrov or Tomas Machac, in the third round, while Fritz is projected to meet powerful 17th seed Jiri Lehecka at the same stage.<\/p>\n Fritz\u2019s knee is a slight concern, but if healthy, he is the most reliable hard-court player in this section.<\/p>\n Quarter-final prediction: Djokovic defeats Fritz<\/em><\/p>\n Projected QF: Ben Shelton (8) vs Jannik Sinner (2)<\/p>\n Second seed Jannik Sinner is aiming to win a third consecutive Australian Open title and fifth Grand Slam overall.<\/p>\n Since becoming an elite player, Sinner has proven he simply does not lose early at majors.<\/p>\n It is hard to see Hugo Gaston (1R), James Duckworth (2R) or 15th seed Karen Khachanov (4R) posing many problems, although a third round match against 28th seed Joao Fonseca could be intriguing.<\/p>\n The Italian\u2019s most likely quarter-final opponent is No 8 seed Ben Shelton \u2014 who he has beaten eight times in a row without losing a set, including three times at Slams.<\/p>\n Shelton has a tough first round match against Ugo Humbert, while he could play 12th seed Casper Ruud in the last 16.<\/p>\n Quarter-final prediction: Sinner defeats Shelton\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Semi-finals: <\/strong><\/p>\n Alcaraz defeats Medvedev in 3 sets\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Sinner defeats Djokovic in 3 sets<\/em><\/p>\n Final:<\/strong><\/p>\n Sinner defeats Alcaraz in 5 sets<\/em><\/p>\n READ NEXT: Australian Open 2026 men\u2019s draw: Sinner set for early blockbuster and Djokovic clash; Alcaraz the winner?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Jannik Sinner beats Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic & Daniil Medvedev go deep \u2013 our Australian Open predictions<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The draw is out for the 2026 Australian Open, but who will lift the men\u2019s singles title at the year\u2019s first Grand Slam in Melbourne? Main draw action at the hard-court major at Melbourne Park will begin on Sunday 18 January, and the men\u2019s singles final will be played on Sunday 1 February. Jack Draper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}First quarter<\/h2>\n
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Semi-final and Final Predictions<\/h2>\n