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One wouldn't expect two former top-20 players and seasoned campaigners of the ATP Tour to meet each other as early as in the second round of a Grand Slam.
Yet, that's going to happen when 21st seed Benoit Paire and former finalist Marin Cilic step out on Court 3 at Melbourne Park for Wednesday's morning session of play at the Australian Open 2020.
The two men have played each a quite a few times and as it's stands, Cilic has an overwhelming record against the Frenchman, having not lost to him since 2013. All of their matches, however, have been very tight affairs.
And while it will be easy to predict a similar result in favour of the Croation for tomorrow's match as well, things are not that simple this time around.
If the current form of both men is anything to go by, it will be a very tight affair. Paire has had one of the strongest starts to 2020 with a final showing at Auckland and some wins at the ATP Cup to go along with that.
And while the Frenchman continues to rake in match wins, his opponent has had his fair share of struggle off late. Cilic plays his best tennis on the fast courts and Melbourne Park is the perfect venue to turn over a new leaf, but he will have to be loft his game significantly to get over the line.
Paire, however well he played on the surface these few weeks, is no match to the big-serving Cilic. But that's only true for the days when the Croatian brings his A-game to the table, which he really hasn't done very often in recent times.
If there was ever a chance for Pairs to notch up a win against Cilic, it's going to be tomorrow's match. If he can maintain his discipline against a somewhat muted opponent, Pairs should be able to do just fine.
Prediction: Paire to win in 4 sets.
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