Roger Federer will face familiar foe John Millman during third-round action at the Australian Open on Friday. Stefanos Tsitipas, who got a walkover in the second round, will go up against Milos Raonic.
(3) Roger Federer vs. John Millman
It will be a rematch of an infamous–at least for Federer–2018 U.S. Open fourth-round contest when Federer and Millman meet again at the Australian Open on Friday night. Amidst extremely humid conditions that surprisingly took a toll on the Swiss, Millman scored a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(7), 7-6(3) upset in New York. They have, however, squared off once since then. Federer took care of business 7-6(1), 6-3 on the grass courts of Halle last summer to take a 2-1 lead in the head-to-head series.
It has already been an outstanding 2020 campaign for Millman, who compiled a 4-1 record across the ATP Cup and Auckland before kicking things off in Melbourne with victories over Auckland champion Ugo Humbert and a similarly red-hot Hubert Hurkacz. But those opponents sure aren’t Federer, who completely blitzed Steve Johnson and Filip Krajinovic. Lightning is not going to strike twice at a slam for Millman, and he won’t enjoy the same Aussie crowd support against Federer from which he benefited in rounds one and two.
Pick: Federer in 3 losing 11-14 games
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(6) Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. (32) Milos Raonic
Tsitsipas got a walkover from Philipp Kohlschreiber on Wednesday and now he runs into another injury-plagued opponent in the third round. Raonic appears to be healthy at the moment, but he can never be trusted to string together a couple of matches–especially three-out-five–before breaking down. The 35th-ranked Canadian, who lost his Doha opener to Corentin Moutet in straight sets, has defeated Lorenzo Giustino and Christian Garin.
It’s safe to say this marks a massive step up in competition. Tsitsipas is No. 6 in the world, made a run to the Australian Open semifinals last year, and won the Nitto ATP Finals. He opened in Melbourne with a 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 rout of Salvatore Caruso. Tsitsipas will have a huge edge from the back of the court, so unless Raonic delivers one of his best serving displays ever there is hardly any chance of an upset.
Pick Tsitsipas in 4
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You do know this thing you do with “losing between 11-14” is a joke, right? There is a gulf of gambling possibilities between those parameters. Just use the spread. In this case Millman +8 -110 and choose a side.
WWW?
Fed in 3; Tpas in 3🦘🎾
What is djokovic serving like these days. Nishioka has won one return point through one and a half sets!
Pretty much everyone was picking Bautista Agut and he is getting blown off the court right now 🙍
Looks like Tsitsi will be out soon.
Fed looks like he’s having a bad day too, not good signs right now as Millman is starting to serve for set 1.
That backhand to get the break back. Wow. Vintage Federer.
Today is upset city, lol!!! Almost everyone of note got blown out today!
Sigh, Novak can now sleep walk to the final!! There is NO one on his side of draw to even take a set off him!!
Some great potential 4th round matches coming up.
Sangren v Fognini rematch. Will Fognini turn terrorist again?
Theim will beat Fritz handily knowing he has an almost certain victory waiting against Monfils.
Medvedev v Wawrinka should be a creacker worthy of a final
Goffin v Zverev
and the list goes on…
Fed is extremely vulnerable right now.
Fognini is seeing it like a beach ball so prob give him the edge this time. Sangren is no slouch though–very underated.
“Sandgren”
Querrey won’t take Sandgren lightly ever again.
Roger needs a match like this if he expects to meet Novak!!! He’ll lose anyway, but still.
I understand how ppl feel at the FO when they feel no one has a chance against Rafa there!!! U just know what the outcome is going to be, lol!! I feel the same way with the AO!!! I mean it’s almost pointless!! Its like we’re just waiting to c who the runner-up is going to be against Novak, sigh!!
There’s only 1 player that can beat Djokovic on this surface atm and that’s Medvedev.
Djokovic will have to have an average day and Medvedev will have to improve significantly in his next few matches.
Roger is playing lousy!
Yeah, forgot about Daniil!! Yeah, he night be able ti take a set, lol! How about Stan, lol?!
Is Fed gonna lose?
He got broken in fifth set but broke back, almost got broken again but Millman had his chances!Good match though!
Fed using up his get out of jail card…!
Sorry, no matter how hard Rafa fights or fought, he still loses/lost to Djoko on the HCs in the end. Its just the way it is, Djoko is simply better than Rafa on the HCs in every aspect of the game, maybe with the exception of the volleying, and the overheads.
Rafa’s topspin FH just isn’t made for the HCs, his court position too (more a clay court style than a HC style). He beat Djoko on the HCs in the past because he’s young and quick and so was able to cover the court well enough to give him better chances to beat Djoko; now that he’s older, he couldn’t move as well, hence Djoko was able to outmanuvre him so often.
Rafa is not going to beat Djoko on the HCs, unless he can play like his USO2010 or 2013 – serving and hitting well, aggressive from start to finish, gaining the upperhand from the get go. If he’s always chasing from behind, he will not beat Djoko.
Note that in all the matches that Rafa had beaten Djoko, ie 26 matches, only in three of them he lost the first set and had to chase from behind to win the matches – Madrid 2009, FO2015 and Wimbledon 2007 (where Djoko retired from the match); in all the 29 matches he lost to Djoko, only four of them he won the first set, that goes to show that Rafa has to come out being aggressive to sieze the upperhand if he were to win the match. If he comes out being tentative, he will most likely lose the match to Djoko.
It goes to show that once Djoko has the upperhand from the start, its really hard to come from behind to beat him.
Sorry, its FO2014, not FO2015.
@ Amy, lol!!
It was a great match! Roger surely needed this, but good he won it at least! He can say he is battle tested now! Houdini!!
Not gonna beat Nole even with his new super powers!
Well we all know the outcome of the AO already!! The women’s side is quite interesting though!!
Tsitsipas out. What a shame!
Thiem plays well against Nole and he is on the opposite side. Medvedev is also on the opposite side!
Speaking of Rog, I was rooting for him. Just because I saw a 38 yr old battling it out in conditions not in favor and against an inspired opponent. What a player Roger is! I must say, I’ll miss him when he retires.
Incresible fight from Roger and he survives. Won’t be able to beat Novak if they meet but the legend grows!
Millman really has patterns worked out against Fed. He almost employs Djoko like tactics to break Fed’s game down.
Yeah, I found myself rooting for Fed too, lol!! Y? Just because of the effort he was putting in, not ever giving up even when the odds were against him!! His stamina is not where he would like it to be but he gave it his heart and soul! The young players like Shapo and Zverev must learn from that! It’s so shameful how they expect to just be handed a win on a platter when they come out on court! I hope Roger at least makes it to the semis, it will be a good result nonetheless. I enjoyed the match!
Hope Rafa spares me a heart attack tonight!! Vamos!!
Why conditions not in favour ?
Watching that one reminded me of all the Federer v Djokovic battles – which in recent times mostly consists of bad memories.
Honestly you could tell from the start tonight that Fed was going to play poorly. Multiple UE’s off both sides, big shanks, erratic serves – it was all there. Huge contrast compared to his composure last match. Admittedly that was against a much lesser opponent, but even so.
You could blame it on Millman or rust or the conditions, but I think it’s all about age. Increasingly in the last few years there are big swings in Federer’s form from match to match. He’ll play a couple of great matches and then the type of poor one that would have him losing to a lot of top players.
Credit to Millman though, he never gave an inch until that TB. He was unlucky not to win it.
It’ll be interesting to see if Fed can bounce back from a draining four hour thriller. Fucsovics is in great form right now.
Fucsovics will be a problem for Fed, as I think Fed will be dead tired from this four hour match. Fucsovics seems to be another Millman type of player, I remember him grinding against Djoko at 2018 USO, I think in R1 and Djoko had a hard time beating him.
I agree, Lucky. Fed won in straight sets both times they played (AO 2018 and Dubai last year), but Fusco really played him tough both times. The question is really whether tonight was a fluke, or if it was a sign of what’s to come from Fed. It’s possibke it could be a fluke due to his previous weird loss to Millman, as Fed look insanely good the previous two matches. But it could just as easily not be a fluke, as Fed has naturally been very up and down at his age. His game on serve has been his saving grace the last couple years. If he can do really well on his serve, he can at least stay in matches like he did tonight. But it will be very rough against Fusco if he makes that many errors again.
Yep, it had upset written all over it until the end of that 5th set TB.
Yeah it is age as we will all realise sooner or later for ourselves, lol! But I guess at the end of the day its about attitude as well as effort! Good on Roger, wish him the best for the tournament!
Now come on Rafa!!
What the 3 goats🐐🐐 🐐Rafa, Fed and Nole have is heart and guts. It’s intrinsic to their greatness. Talent by itself ain’t enough…