We are now down to the third-round stage of the Australian Open and the men’s draw continues to throw up surprises and shock results. Simon, (advised 40/1 to win his quarter) who started the year so well had to retire injured during the second set of his match against tenth seed Carreno-Busta. The Spanish number two looks to be finding his form again and he now faces twenty third seed Muller. Third seed Dimitrov (advised 28/1) made hard work of beating American qualifier McDonald in five sets, which does not inspire confidence for his chances this year. We also lost seventh seed Goffin (advised 66/1), who was beaten by 37-year-old French veteran Benneteau in four sets and Goffin has never looked comfortable or fully fit in any of his matches so far, this year.
Ninth seed Wawrinka and fellow experienced veteran Verdasco were both upset losing against little known Challenger circuit players, American Sandgren and German Marterer respectively. Wawrinka was returning from knee surgery and six-months off the tour so his loss is not a major surprise. Sam Querrey seeded thirteen added to the disappointing overall results for American players at this year’s Championships when he was ousted by Hungarian Fuscovic, who is now ranked 80 in the world. Fifth seed Thiem was also given a big scare by American veteran Kudla who lead two sets to love before Thiem stormed back to win an epic in five sets. Fourteenth seed and six-time Australian Open champion Djokovic made a slow start against Monfils in gruelling conditions on Rod Laver Arena, losing the first set, but he stormed back when Monfils began to wilt under the extreme heat and went on to win in four. You can imagine the more matches Djokovic plays the better he will get, but whether he will be at the level required to challenge for the title on this fortnight is still uncertain.
Djokovic faces twenty first seed Ramos-Vinolas next up and he leads the head-to-head 4-0. His level of performance on this occasion will no doubt depend on how well he recovers from his last match and copes with the heat again. Other players to progress to the third-round from the bottom half of the draw were Mannarino, who will now face fifth seed Thiem, Sandgren faces Marterer, Next Generation ATP Finals winner Chung will face Alexander Zverev, Benneteau will face twenty fifth seed Fognini, Fuscovic faces Kicker, Gasquet will face second-seed and defending champion Federer. The potential third-round tie from the bottom half of the draw could be between nineteenth seed Berdych and twelfth seed Del Potro. Del Potro leads the head-to-head 4-3 and if he continues to play like he has done so over the last 6-12 months I fancy him to take this one in probably four sets.
By the time you read this article the players from the top-half of the draw will have nearly completed their third-round matches. Nadal was due to face a potentially tricky encounter against the talented Dzhumur, who also surprisingly leads the head-to-head 1-0, after his win at Miami back in 2016 when Nadal had to retire injured at one set all and a break down. Third Seed Dimitrov was due to face Next Gen star Rublev in what should be an explosive and highly entertaining encounter between two of the games hottest young talents.
Sixth seed Cilic has quietly flown under the radar so far, this week and by all accounts he has been playing really well. He faces his toughest test so far today against American Harrison, who finally made his breakthrough on the ATP Tour last season winning his first title in Memphis, and he has continued to improve since then and should have given Cilic a good test. Fifteenth seed Tsonga was due to face Aussie and seventeenth seed Kyrgios in what had the potential to be the match of the day. Britain’s Kyle Edmunds is also in action and will have hopefully overcome the challenge of Basilashvili by the time you read this article.
