Daniil Medvedev vs Adam Walton Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - Medvedev launches Almaty title bid

Medvedev had been enduring a nightmare season, but after switching coaches, he comes into this clash having won seven of his last eight completed matches and with an outside chance of qualifying for the year-ending ATP Finals in Turin. Medvedev is coming off a promising showing in Shanghai where he made the semi-finals - can he reset for the quick turnaround in Almaty?

He's got a good draw, even though he lost his only previous meeting with Walton in Cincinnati - but that was during a period where Medvedev was at his absolute worst. Walton deserves credit for grinding his way into the top 100 and he's actually the No. 3 Aussie behind Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin. However, the fact remains Walton has only defeated two top 50 players in his career - his game, at the moment, his limited. If Medvedev maintains his level from Shanghai, he should be winning this relatively comfortably.

As mentioned, Walton leads 1-0, beating Medvedev 6-7 6-4 6-1 in the Cincinnati R64 earlier this year.

Medvedev comes into this contest with a 34-21 record on the season and still searching for his first title since Rome 2023.

But, of equal importance for Medvedev right now is ATP Finals qualification. He was all but out of contention before a run to the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters last week, which propelled him to 15th in the race, trailing eighth-placed Lorenzo Musetti by 1,075 points.

Considering the Almaty draw isn't the strongest, there's a good possibility Medvedev picks up the title and 250 points before turning his attention to the ATP 500 in Vienna and the Paris Masters 1000.

Medvedev put together a confidence-boosting Asian swing, reaching the semi-finals of Beijing before advancing to the final four in Shanghai, where he beat the likes of Learner Tien and Alex de Minaur before going down to Arthur Rinderknech.

Walton heads into this clash with a 13-18 tour-level record on the season, rising to a career-high ranking of No. 75 and cementing himself as the Aussie No. 3, which not many people would have saw coming around 12-18 months ago.

The 26-year-old is a bit of a late bloomer, coming through the college system in the USA before turning pro almost by accident after some strong Futures results.

After tearing up the Futures and Challenger circuit, Walton has struggled to make the full-time transition to the ATP Tour and will likely need to develop more weapons to sustain his place consistently.

It hasn't been a great last couple of months for Walton since he beat Mariano Navone and Medvedev to reach the Cincinnati third round. The Aussie has lost seven of his last 10 matches, including opening round exits in all tour-level events during the Asian swing.

However, Walton got back to winning ways in Almaty, beating countryman Tristan Schoolkate in three sets in the first round.