Australian Open 2017 – Men’s Singles Preview

 

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.

 

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.

 

Novak Djokovic, image courtesy - google

Rafael Nadal, the 2009 champion here, is coming off a long injury lay off yet again, he is seeded 9^th 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.

 

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 17^th, he was ranked 16^th 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 15^th and Federer got bumped down to 17^th.  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

 

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 8^thseed Dominic Thiem, 24^th seeded german teenager Alexander Zverev and 16^th 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 3^rd Round and Lucas Pouille or John Isner in the 4^th 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 3^rdRound, 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 10^th, is also here. The section seems to be loaded with Spaniards, Almagro, Granollers and 26^th seeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas are all here.

Federer plays qualifiers in the first two rounds before a potential meeting with Berdych in the 3^rd 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 3^rd round for the potential 4^th 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 14^th 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 7^th 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 9^th 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 3^rd 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 3^rd 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, 25^th, 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.

 

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 3^rd 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

 

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 30^th 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 4^th 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.

 

Stan Wawrinka, image courtesy - google

Final – Wawrinka will defeat Djokovic to win his 2^nd Australian Open 

My Australian Open 2017 preview video is here -