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| Australian open 2017 logo, image courtesy- google |
The Australian Open
2017 men’s singles event promises to be a really exciting event with a great
mix of experienced players and youngsters part of this year’s event. The top
seed is the new world number one and newly knighted Sir Andy Murray. He heads a
strong field which includes all of the world’s top 32 players, unlike the last
two grand slams where a number of players, including Federer and Nadal were
missing because of injuries.
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| Andy Murray, the new world number one, image courtesy - google |
Melbourne Park, of
course, is the favorite hunting ground of second seed and six time champion
Novak Djokovic, half of his 12 Grand Slams have come in Melbourne, and based on
his title win in Doha over the past weekend, beating Murray in 3 sets in the
final, the Serbian master has to start as the favorite.
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| Novak Djokovic, image courtesy - google |
Rafael Nadal, the
2009 champion here, is coming off a long injury lay off yet again, he is seeded
9th which means that Rafa will face one of the top 8 seeds in
the Round of 16. The Spaniard won the exhibition event in Abu Dhabi beating
Raonic in 3 sets in the semis and Goffin in the final, but the following week
in ATP 250 - Brisbane, he got knocked out by Raonic in 3 sets in the quarters.
So it would be interesting to see how he fares down under.
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| Rafael Nadal, image courtesy - google |
Roger Federer, the
4 time Melbourne champion, missed every tournament after Wimbledon last year
due to injury and is seeded 17th, he was ranked 16th till
last week but when Grigor Dimitrov won the ATP 250 – Brisbane title beating Kei
Nishikori in the final, he moved up 2 places up to 15th and
Federer got bumped down to 17th. Federer was upset by young
Alexander Zverev of Germany in the Hopman Cup in Perth and has a tough draw
being in Murray’s quarter
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| Roger Federer, image courtesy - google |
Stan Wawrinka, the
2014 champion and the number 4 seed, is one of the great big match players to
emerge over the past few years, he is in the top half of the draw and can
potentially meet Murray or Federer in the semis. Apart from the Big 4 and
Wawrinka, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov have a great chance here based on
the late season form and early success in Brisbane this year. Tsonga and Cilic
have always gone well here and expect them to make a strong run, Brisbane
finalist Nishikori should also continue his strong form on the plexicushion in
Melbourne.
Among the NextGen
stars, Nick Kyrgios is coming off an injury, so his performance might be
average, but look out for number 8thseed Dominic Thiem, 24th seeded
german teenager Alexander Zverev and 16th seed Lucas Pouille of
France to make a strong impact in the tournament
Let’s take a look
at each quarter one by one –
First Quarter –
This is the Murray
and Federer section, the Top seeded Murray has a relatively tough draw, he
starts off his campaign against Ukrainian veteran Illya Marchenko, after that
he could face American Sam Querrey in the 3rd Round and Lucas
Pouille or John Isner in the 4th Round. Querrey upset Djokovic
at Wimbledon last year and Isner is always a dangerous prospect for any top
player on any surface because of his booming serve, but my take is that Isner
will have his hands full against Pouille in the 3rdRound, expect
Murray to get through to the quarters after getting through Pouille in the
Round of 16
The other side of
the first quarter features Federer, here Nishikori is the highest seed and
Berdych, seeded 10th, is also here. The section seems to be loaded
with Spaniards, Almagro, Granollers and 26th seeded Albert
Ramos-Vinolas are all here.
Federer plays
qualifiers in the first two rounds before a potential meeting with Berdych in
the 3rd Round, Federer has lost some Grand Slam matches to
Berdych over the years but should come through this one considering his
experience and the fact that Berdych is not in the greatest of form, and also
Berdych also has to get past Ryan Harrison and Nicolas Mahut to get to his
meeting with the Fed
Nishikori should
come through against Kuznetsov, then Alamgro or Chardy and then Ramos-Vinolas
in the 3rd round for the potential 4th Round
encounter with Federer.
Federer and
Nishikori should be an entertaining match, Federer would come through in 5 sets
to set up a blockbuster quarter final against Murray
Andy Murray, should
reach the semi-finals after a 4 set win over Federer in the quarters. Murray is
playing really well and Federer will not have enough match fitness after the
long layoff to hold off Murray in the quarters.
First round match
to watch out for in this section – Ryan Harrison v Nicolas Mahut
Second Quarter –
This is the
Wawrinka section and he starts against the very talented Czech left hander
Martin Klizan, that’s a tricky first round but Stan should get through to face
American Steve Johnson in Round 2. The other seed in this section is Viktor
Troicki. Stan should come through this section for a potential fourth Round
with Kyrgios.
The other side with
the 14th seeded Kyrgios, contains a number of talented players
but no one can match Kyrgios in sheer fire power on the serve and from the
baseline, Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay is the next highest seed, but clay is his
best surface. Kyrgios should come through this section if his fitness holds
through the first week, given the recent shoulder injury
Wawrinka Vs Kyrgios
should be another entertaining Round of 16, but Stan the man would be able to
withstand the body blows from Kyrgios and come through to the Quarter Finals
The other side of
the second quarter, headed by the 7th seeded Marin Cilic is
packed with huge and heavy hitters. Cilic starts off against one time young
Polish sensation Jerzy Janowicz, who since fallen off the radar due to injury
and loss of from. Bernard Tomic, who has a tough first round with Thomaz
Bellucci, could meet Cilic in Round 3, in what could be a Popcorn match of the
first weekend, Bernie T can challenge him, but Cilic will prevail.
The rest of
this section has should feature a battle between Jack Sock and Jo –Wilfred
Tsonga, both huge hitters and players who love the big stage. Tsonga the 2007
finalist should come through to face Cilic in the Round of 16. CIlic has a 5 -1
record over Tsonga and should prevail in their fourth round meeting to set up a
Quarter Final clash with Stan
Stan Wawrinka will
have a very tough quarter final against Cilic but should progress to the semis
in 5 sets
First Round Matches
to watch in this section – Bernard Tomic Vs Thomaz Bellucci, this would be a
show court match and it would be very interesting to see how Bernie T deals
with Bellucci’s left handed serves.
Third Quarter –
This is a tough
quarter to be in, in the top section of the quarter, Gael Monfils, at 6, is the
highest seed, he starts off against the tall and hard hitting Czech lefty Jiri
Vesely, if Monfils wins that then he would play the winner of a potentially
very entertaining match between Alex Dolgopolov and the 20 year old Croat Borna
Coric. The winner here would then potentially meet Philip Kohlschreiber in
Round 3.
Look ahead and we are
in Rafa Land. Nadal is seeded 9th and starts off against
Florian Mayer who beat him once in 2011 Shanghai, the overall head to head is
1-1 but Rafa should prevail given his immense Grand Slam best of 5 sets pedigree,
moving on Nadal would play the winner of Baghdatis and Youzhny, both have
troubled Nadal in the past but should not present too much problem to him on
this occasion.
A 3rd round
battle with youngster Alexander Zverev would be Rafa’s real test, Zverev having
upset Federer in the Hopman Cup, is in good form. If the Spaniard wins, he
would move to potentially face Gael Monfils in the Round of 16.
Monfils has not
troubled Nadal in recent encounter and Rafa would have few problems disposing
off LaMonf in straight sets to proceed to the quarters.
Roberto Bautista
Agut and the veteran David Ferrer should wage a battle royale for control of the
next section of this quarter, as they should come through to meet in Round 3,
Bautista Agut would use his superior firepower to outlast Ferrer and move on to
Round 4
Milos Raonic, the 3rd seed
has a tough first round against Dustin Brown but should come through, same with
Gilles Muller in Round 2- tricky lefty but manageable. The rest of Raonic’s
section looks quite manageable with Gilles Simon, 25th, being the
next highest seed so he should get through to a Round 4 meeting with Bautista
Agut, where Raonic would prevail in straight sets to reach the quarters and
face Nadal.
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| Milos Raonic, image courtesy - google |
This would be the
toughest of all the quarterfinals but Raonic would win in 5 sets and proceed to
the semifinals.
Feature first round
match of this quarters - Alexander Dolgopolov Vs. Borna Coric, Coric will
prevail in 5 sets in a very entertaining match
Fourth Quarter –
Djokovic is the
overwhelming favorite in this quarter where the next highest seed is number 8
Dominic Thiem of Austria. Thiem best surface is clay but these slow hard courts
would suit him as well.
He has a relatively
easy draw until he faces the either Feliciano Lopez or Fabio Fognini in the
first round, Lopez and Fognini should have a tough first round, with the winner
then facing either Benoit Paire or one of the oldest and still one of the
fittest players in the draw at 38, Tommy Haas.
Thiem should come
through that section to face yet another veteran, the ace machine, Ivo Karlovic
in Round 3, if Thiem can negotiate the Doctor and come through to face David
Goffin, it would be a great achievement. But Goffin should have the measure of
Thiem on this surface and would win their meeting to move on to the quarters.
The next part of
the draw features Brisbane Champion Grigor Dimitrov, he has a good draw till he
faces Richard Gasquet in the 3rd round, in what would be a
battle of powerful one handed backhands. Dimitrov in this form would handle
Gasquet in straight sets to reach Round 4
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| Grigor Dimitrov, image courtesy - google |
Djokovic has very
tough first round against Verdasco, who he beat in Doha after saving 5 match
points, if he wins that, the next two opponents would likely be Denis Istomin
and then the 30th seed Pablo Carreno Busta. Once he survives Verdasco
in 4 sets in the first round, Djokovic should prevail from this section.
A big test will
come from Dimitrov in the 4th Round, but Djokovic should
prevail in his first 5 setter of AO 2017
Djokovic will crush
Goffin in the easiest of the quarter final matches and move on to the semis
Semifinals –
Wawrinka will defeat Murray.
Djokovic
will defeat Raonic.
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| Stan Wawrinka, image courtesy - google |
Final
– Wawrinka will defeat Djokovic to win his 2nd Australian
Open
My Australian Open 2017 preview video is here -
