Tsitsipas vs Duckworth Prediction 23 October 2026
🔊 James Duckworth caused a major upset in the second round in Almaty, beating Luciano Darderi, and now faces Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals. The Australian needs one more win to defend the ranking points he earned after reaching last year's semi-final, where he progressed following a surprise victory over Flavio Cobolli. The question is whether the former world No. 3 from Greece can spoil those plans.
Head-to-Head
📊 The only previous meeting between these two was won by Stefanos Tsitsipas. That match took place back in 2018 on the outdoor hard courts in Washington.
Head-to-head statistics Tsitsipas - Duckworth
Stefanos Tsitsipas Player Overview
Stefanos Tsitsipas arrives at the quarter-final in confident form, having won eight of his last ten matches. In the two previous rounds of this tournament he beat Aleksandar Kovacevic (7-6, 3-6, 6-3) and Mikhail Kukushkin (6-1, 6-2), and before that reached the second week of the Shanghai Masters 1000. On serve, Tsitsipas wins 83% of service points, and his first-serve percentage stands at 67%. On average he takes 56% of all games and wins close to three-quarters of his sets. These numbers make him the favourite, but they do not guarantee a wide margin - even as the betting leader he can occasionally drop a significant number of points.
Match Results: Stefanos Tsitsipas
James Duckworth Player Overview
James Duckworth has been inconsistent overall - just four wins from his last ten matches - but has made a solid start to this tournament, winning two rounds: beating Miomir Kecmanovic (6-4, 6-3) and upsetting world No. 23 Luciano Darderi (7-5, 7-6). Almaty has generally been a happy hunting ground for the Australian: last year he also caused a surprise here, defeating Flavio Cobolli - a higher-ranked Italian - and going on to reach the semi-finals. Despite a modest set-winning rate of 43%, Duckworth holds serve in 80% of his service games. He wins around half of all games played and regularly makes life difficult for higher-ranked opponents.
Match Results: James Duckworth
Key factors
- James Duckworth has covered the games handicap (+4.5) in 13 consecutive matches.
- Stefanos Tsitsipas wins consistently, but not always by a wide margin.
- The average number of games per match for both players exceeds 23, pointing to a potentially competitive encounter.
Expected scenario
The match should see Stefanos Tsitsipas hold a clear edge in the key moments, but James Duckworth has every chance of taking a decent number of games thanks to his solid serve and ability to keep the score close even against stronger opponents. That kind of pattern could lead to a high number of holds. Tsitsipas already ran into trouble in the first round against fellow big server Aleksandar Kovacevic, so a straightforward win against the Australian looks unlikely here too.
⭐ Editor's Pick
Stefanos Tsitsipas is objectively the stronger player on current form and overall numbers, but James Duckworth tends to stay close to favourites on the scoreboard through his powerful serve and consistency on his own service games. The average match length for both players remains high regardless of results, so a tight scoreline seems likely here too. The main pick takes into account Duckworth's run of covering positive handicaps, as well as his smoother path to the quarter-final - he has not dropped a set along the way, unlike Stefanos Tsitsipas. We back the underdog: Duckworth - Games Handicap +4.5.
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