Roger Federer will kick off his Australian Open campaign when he takes the court against fellow veteran Jurgen Melzer on Monday night. The opening-day schedule also features Kei Nishikori and Andrey Kuznetsov.
(Q) Jurgen Melzer vs. (17) Roger Federer
Federer and Melzer will be facing each other for the fifth time in their careers and for the first time in more than five years when they clash in round one of the Australian Open on Monday. The head-to-head series stands at 3-1 in favor of Federer, who won their only previous outdoor hard-court encounter 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 in the fourth round of the 2010 U.S. Open. They have not squared off since 2011, when Melzer pulled off a 6-4, 6-4 upset on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo.
Few players in this Grand Slam draw are as old as Federer, but Melzer is one such competitor. The 35-year-old Austrian has been mostly absent from the tour in recent seasons due to injury issues, and he had to go through qualifying this past week as the No. 300 player in the world. Melzer punched his ticket to the main draw by defeating Joris De Loore, Taro Daniel, and Rajeev Ram. Speaking of physical problems, Federer missed the rest of 2016 after falling to Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon semifinals. The 35-year-old Swiss returned at the Hopman Cup earlier this month, picking up singles wins over Dan Evans and Richard Gasquet to go along with a three-tiebreaker loss at the hands of Alexander Zverev. All signs point to Federer being able to take care of Melzer without any serious trouble.
Pick: Federer in 3 losing 11-14 games
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Andrey Kuznetsov vs. (5) Kei Nishikori
Death, taxes, and Nishikori struggling with injuries…. Those seem to be the three certainties of life. This 2017 Australian Open is no exception, as the Japanese star is heading into Melbourne on the heels of a Brisbane loss to Grigor Dimitrov in which he was less than 100 percent. Nishikori beat Jared Donaldson, Jordan Thompson, and Stan Wawrinka on his way to the title match before succumbing to Dimitrov 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 and limping around due to a bum hip the process.
Up first for the No. 5 seed on Monday is a fourth career meeting with Kuznetsov, who trails the head-to-head series 2-1. The Russian’s lone win over Nishikori came via retirement, when he led 6-4, 3-1 at the 2010 event in Eastbourne. Nishikori got the job done twice in majors last season–6-3, 6-3, 6-3 at Roland Garros and 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 at Wimbledon. Kuznetsov is coming off a semifinal performance in Sydney, where he two of his three victories came by retirements in advance of a three-set loss to Dan Evans. Unless Nishikori is hobbled at all, this should be another straightforward affair.
Pick: Nishikori in 4
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who ya got?
Nishikori in three and fed in three losing 11-14 games
Ricky you picked nishikori in 3 on your daily picks, but on these article 4 which is it?
Fed in three losing less than 12.
4, 3 and 2 is Hawkstradamus’ best guess.
Nishi in four assuming he can complete the match.
Thanks!
This Nishikori vs Kuznetsov match is the definition of high quality. Man this is some good stuff. In other news Ryan Harrison blasted Mahut off the court. That was a damn good performance from Harrison. I’m even more confident in my pick of him over Berdych next round.
very winnable match
Berdy is a shell of a shell of his former self so yeah Ryan definitely with a decent shot.
I think this AO will be a struggle for Fed. This is new territory even for the Fed. I am keen to see how he responds.
Well he’s down 2-4 in the first set against Melzer. My prediction of him losing a set to jurgen getting probable. Can’t watch this unfortunately as I’m on a history class now. #gofederer
he did!