Australian Open R2 previews and picks: Wawrinka vs. Stepanek, Murray vs. Groth

Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray will continue their Australian Open campaigns during second-round action on Thursday. They are set for respective meetings with Radek Stepanek and Sam Groth.

(Q) Radek Stepanek vs. (4) Stan Wawrinka

Wawrinka’s quest for a third Grand Slam title–and second at the Australian Open–got off to a routine start on Tuesday when he received a third-set retirement from injury-plagued veteran Dmitry Tursunov. It is looking like another typical beginning of a season for Wawrinka, who is almost always at his best in Chennai and Melbourne. Earlier this month he lifted his fourth Chennai winner’s trophy. Wawrinka triumphed Down Under in 2014 and he has not lost to anyone except Novak Djokovic (both times in five sets) since 2012.

Up next for Wawrinka is a seventh career meeting with Stepanek, who holds a surprising 4-2 edge in the head-to-head series. However, the 37-year-old was once 4-0 at his opponent’s expense and he has not defeated Wawrinka since 2009. The two veterans most recently faced each other last fall in Tokyo, where Wawrinka cruised 7-5, 6-3. Ranked No. 188 in the world, Stepanek is working his way back from injury and has already been extremely productive this fortnight. The Czech coasted through qualifying before beating Tatsuma Ito 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-2 in round one. Stepanek will make this entertaining at times, but he will ultimately see far too many backhand passing shots whiz by him at the net.

Pick: Wawrinka in 3

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Sam Groth vs. (2) Andy Murray

Murray and Groth will be going head-to-head in singles for the first time in their careers on Thursday. They did spend plenty of time on court together last full, when the Murray brothers won an epic doubles rubber against Groth and Lleyton Hewitt to help lead Great Britain into the Davis Cup final (which the Brits eventually won over Belgium). It remains to be seen how the momentum from that triumph will propel Murray in 2016. The second-ranked Scot participated in the Hopman Cup earlier this month, but this is his first official tournament action. He got off to a fine start on Tuesday by easing past Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

Groth is coming off a 7-6(6), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 defeat of Adrian Mannarino. The 67th-ranked Australian finished with 27 aces and five double-faults while serving at 66 percent. Although those numbers are decent, Groth will need even better serving in order to compete with Murray, as this is going to be one-way traffic whenever baseline rallies ensue. The underdog joked that he hopes Murray’s wife goes into labor with their first child before the match starts, thus forcing the No. 2 seed to withdraw. Groth probably won’t be so lucky–and neither will the Aussie crowd if it is expecting to see more than three sets.

Pick: Murray in 3 with no tiebreakers

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