de Minaur is a two-time US Open quarterfinalist.
Aussie title hope Alex de Minaur puts his skillset to task, as he prepares to enter the battlefield against Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan in the 2025 US Open Round of 64 on Thursday. The winner of this encounter will take on either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Daniel Altmaier in Round-3. Can the No. 8 seed prove his mettle on the big stage? Only time will tell. Let’s break down this encounter with the help of our accurate odds from BetMGM today.
Arguably the fastest player on the men’s tour, Alex de Minaur relies on his innate ability to make opponents hit an extra ball from awkward angles. The 26-year-old enjoys the fast exchanges that the current game demands, and knows how to counter-attack. In February, de Minaur reached the final in Rotterdam – where he lost to Alcaraz. He then made the semis in Monte Carlo, before ending the clay court swing with a Round-2 exit at Roland Garros. By virtue of claiming his first trophy of 2025 in Washington DC, the World No. 8 comes into the US Open with North American momentum.
25 – Alex de Minaur has claimed a 25th ATP-level match win on hard court in 2025 – the most of any player on the surface so far this season. Focused.#USOpen | @usopen @atptour @ATPMediaInfo pic.twitter.com/s9ws9gXvMW
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) August 26, 2025
Little did Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki know that within a week, his life would shift gears in the best possible manner. After three hard-fought wins in the qualifying competition, the 22-year-old stunned Hugo Gaston in the Round of 128. Featuring in a Grand Slam Second Round for just the second time in his career, Mochizuki will be desperate to improve his ranking of No. 112 in the world. He possesses a hard court record of 9-7 over the past twelve months, and a success rate of 30% on return games. The Japanese star is a two-time winner on the ATP Challenger Tour.
What it means! 🇯🇵
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 1, 2025
The 2019 Boys' Singles Champion Shintaro Mochizuki claims his first main draw Grand Slam win after defeating Giulio Zeppieri 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 7-5 in R1. #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/0VmsYutHED
The head-to-head record between Alex de Minaur and Shintaro Mochizuki is currently 0-0. The US Open 2025 will play host to their first ever meeting on the professional tour.
| Alex de Minaur | Category | Shintaro Mochizuki |
| 8 | Current Ranking | 112 |
| 287-170 | Career W-L Record | 5-21 |
| 38-15 | YTD W-L Record | 2-2 |
| 10 | Career Titles | 0 |
| 1 | YTD Titles | 0 |
| 0 | Grand Slams | 0 |
Alex de Minaur is a couple of levels higher than anything Mochizuki is likely to have encountered. Unfortunately, the Australian’s defense to attack style of play is nightmarish for someone like the Japanese youngster. He enjoys compact rallies with uni-dimensional pace and height. With de Minaur, he will have to deal with minimal time on his hands. With the Australian adopting a rare tactic of standing high up on the baseline but still managing to play a counter-attacking brand of tennis, expect his experience to carry him over the line.
Prediction: Alex de Minaur in straight sets.
Emerging as an outright favourite, Alex de Minaur comes in with 1/40 odds for this US Open 2025 Round of 64 match-up. On the contrary, Shintaro Mochizuki’s odds of 12/1 imply that his chances of progressing to the next stage of the tournament are between 5-10%. Here are the details of all the odds you need to know about (as per BetMGM):
(According to BetMGM: BetMGM offers exclusive promo codes, bonus deals and accurate odds for users upon signing up. Use BetMGM to ace your betting game in all sports!)
(Image Credits: Mike Frey, Imagn Images)
A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.
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