Roger Federer will try to regroup after a tough third-round battle against John Millman when he faces the red-hot Marton Fucsovics on Sunday. Canadian veteran Milos Raonic will also be in action against Marin Cilic.
(3) Roger Federer vs. Marton Fucsovics
Federer was a couple of points from a third round exit on Friday night. The world No. 3 took on John Millman, the Australian who knocked him out of the 2018 U.S. Open. In fact, had they been at the U.S. Open with a traditional first-to-7 tiebreaker, Federer would have been out. As it happened, the Swiss just barely pulled out a win.
His reward is a meeting in the fourth round with Fucsovics, the world No. 67. Fucsovics has already gathered for himself quite the collection of upsets in Melbourne. He dispatched an out-of-sorts Denis Shapovalov in the first round and Jannik Sinner in the second. To call him “in form” would be understating the case. Considerably. In other words, he could be dangerous to Federer.
As Federer is the winningest Grand Slam champion of all time, it wouldn’t be wise to count him out–but he did not play his best against Millman. If he offers the same error-prone form to Fucsovics, it could mean another early exit for Federer.
Cheryl pick: Federer in 4
Ricky pick: Federer in 4
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(32) Milos Raonic vs. Marin Cilic
It is not perhaps the biggest fourth-round surprise in Melbourne (that distinction goes to Ons Jabeur and Qiang Wang on the women’s side), but Raonic and Cilic are hardly the obvious picks from this section of the draw. Raonic produced a particularly impressive win over the No. 7 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round.
Cilic, the Croatian veteran had some impressive wins of his own to earn his spot in the round of 16. He dispatched No. 21 seed Benoit Paire in the second round, but his performance of the fortnight so far was the five-set battle with Roberto Bautista Agut.
This match promises to feature monster serving. Their rankings (35th for Raonic, 39th for CIlic) largely puts them on a level playing field. Cilic, however, has won the two most recent of their three previous meetings.
Cheryl pick: Cilic in 5
Ricky pick: Raonic in 4
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WWW?
Fed in 3
Cilic in 4/5 if he can produce the 2014-level tennis he displayed against RBA at times
Also its crazy how majority of brackets had neither of these guys getting to this match despite being pretty dominant names in recent years.. crazy how time goes
Because neither of these guys had showed their earlier form for a couple of years? Due to injuries, sure. But who knew when they’d be healthy again, if ever? Raonic has suffered injury after injury. Cilic had some surgery last season and said late in the year that he was feeling good again.
I think it’ll be Raonic in 4 or 5. He’s serving HUGE again. For how long, I don’t know. He’s always been very injury prone.
Agree. I usually pick Raonic to go far if he’s healthy but theres been no sign of form from him lately. Ditto Cilic. He’s choked a lot of matches .
Fucsovic in five and Raonic in four.
Fed and Rao, both in 3 or 4
Hope Federer can limp past Fucsovics somehow. Have not yet seen him play but Millman taking him to the bitter end is not a good sign.
Also, Idk about Cilic and Raonic.
Fed is a top 3 player . There is one day recovery. Much is made of the 4 hour match. Fed will be fine as he has not played this year at all and is fresher. Fed will win in 3..max 4
Agreed. Fed to win in 3 or 4 sets
Fed and Raonic in four
I was at Fuscovits’s last match and he looked fantastic…scary good. Fed will have his hands full….but will still win, in 4. Cilic playing a lot better these days, in 4.
Fed’s most obvious sign of age is that he simply has off-days more often than he used to. These tend to come against lower-ranked players; he almost always seems to bring high-level tennis when playing the top guys, even if he doesn’t win. Fucsovics is playing terrific tennis and he could pull off the upset if Roger is as error-prone as he was against Millman (taking nothing against the latter, who played great). More likely, I think, is that Fed turns in a vintage performance and rolls him in straights. At this point, pretty much no one is picking Roger to win this tournament, but his best tennis is still probably good enough to win it.
From the scoreline, Raonic seems to be playing well at the moment, may be winning in straight sets against Cilic.
Fognini’s in trouble here. Sandgren’s strong work ethic as an underdog frustrates him.
Whoever of Fed or Fucsovics wins tonight, will have an easy opponent in the QF, as it looks like Sandgren has a thigh issue that may bother him in his next match.
Raonic may have a slim chance against Djoko, but it’s looking imminent that Djoko will be in the final.
Fed v Fucksovics has been quality so far. Fed will have to play well to win.
Sandgren, now Fucsovics…just not missing a ball and crushing it.
I’m willing to call it now. Fed loses tonight.
He’s not playing well from the get-go, same as against Millman the other night.
The ATP is the most competitive it’s ever been right now.
Roger looks very vulnerable, a lot more than im used to!
Fed really lifted his game in that second set, and Fucsovics came down off the cloud. He pretty much played a perfect 1st set. But it’s a heck of a tennis match so far.
Terrific comeback by fed .all those saying he will lose..lol. he won’t to fuscovis. Will likely to Djokovic
Why lol? It’s Fucsovics who loses the belief once Fed ups his aggression. It seems to me that Fucsovics was just contented to be able to win a set off Fed, as if that’s mission accomplished.
I thought the right thing to do was to continue with his own good play in the second set but no, he just relaxed and allowed Fed to control the match! That’s not the way to play against these top players, and that’s why the top players remain the top players because they know that these other players just won’t have the belief or the mindset to push it even further after taking the first lead. Millman is the exception, Simon when at his best may be another exception.
How many times we see that unfold in front of us!
Of course that’s taking nothing away from Fed, as he’s great at exploiting all these weaknesses in his lesser opponents, whether he himself is playing well or not.
That’s why the big 3 are big 3. I expect all out war between fed novak in semi..anyone saying rout will be surprised..don’t be surprised if it goes 5
It may be like AO2016 SF. Fed makes many errors and against a player like Djoko, that won’t do. Djoko will exploit all these errors or weaknesses.
Wasn’t 2016 before the much improved bh..i think it will go 5
Do you see Fed’s improved BH in display now? I don’t!
The court is so slow and that favours Djoko, and I think the SF is always played in the evening, that makes things worse. For that reason, I think even if Rafa makes it to the final, he’ll be beaten by Djoko too.
I hope I’m wrong but it looks unlikely. I’m pissed off with first Tsitipas and then Schwartzman, hopefully Raonic can do some damage even if not beating Djoko.
Agree fed is hitting bh with enough net clearance. The court is slower at night n the balls are fluffy..when newer they play ok but later really slow it down . Fed has less chance against djoko but a surprise can be sprung.
Roger starting to roll now, up a double break in the 3rd. Fucsovics seems to have lost his self-belief, which is too bad. He played with such composure in the first set, but Fed has taken that away. Not taking anything away from his opponents, but Roger couldn’t have asked for an easier path to the semis here.
True, after this he has Sandgren for the QF! Maybe that will be great in view of the impending SF vs Djoko.
Djoko has to beat Raonic first, may not be easy but he will come through; and Djoko is the best person to exploit Fed’s weaknesses imo.