Alex de Minaur vs Marin Cilic Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - De Minaur to cover in Dubai opener

It's been a solid start to the season for De Minaur and the Aussie at the very least will be hoping to make it nine consecutive quarter-finals on tour in Dubai this week. It's an interesting opener against Cilic, who obviously was a tremendous player back in his prime, but the Croatian has struggled lately as he enters the twilight of his career. These players are heading in opposite trajectories at the moment and de Minaur has excelled against players outside the top 10 this season, so backing the Aussie to cover a -4.5 games line to advance into the second round in Dubai.

Currently locked at 2-2, but their last meeting was in 2022 and both players are in a completely different place in their careers right now. For what it's worth, de Minaur won their last encounter 6-2 6-2 at the 2022 Davis Cup.

Just about what you'd expect these days from de Minaur - he's beating everyone he's supposed to and coming up short against top 10 players.

De Minaur has registered a 13-3 record so far in 2025, making the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and Doha, along with finishing runner-up in Rotterdam for the second straight season.

The 25-year-old has won all 13 matches against players outside the top 10 this season, but lost his three outings vs the game's elite - falling to Jannik Sinner in Melbourne, Carlos Alcaraz in Rotterdam and Andrey Rublev in Doha. All three of those players went on to win the title in those tournaments.

De Minaur hasn't played much in Dubai in his career (he's actually the defending champion in Acapulco this week), with both of his previous appearances at the tournament resulting in a R1 loss (2021, 2022).

As expected, Cilic has struggled in his bid to climb back into the top 100 at the age of 36 following various serious injury issues.

Currently at No. 187 in the world, Cilic missed January and began his season last week in Doha, where he was unfortunate in drawing Alcaraz in the opening round, going down 6-4 6-4. Now, Cilic has drawn another top 10 player in his Dubai opener this week.

It appeared as if Cilic could make a swift return to the top 100 after surging to the Hangzhou title towards the end of 2024, but the Croatian went on to lose five of his last six matches of the year and is yet to arrest that slide.

Cilic also hasn't fared well in Dubai over the years - he's on a four-match losing streak at the tournament and hasn't won a match here since 2010.