Currently standing in Novak Djokovic’s way of a sixth Australian Open title is Andreas Seppi, who will face the world No. 1 during third-round action on Friday. Kei Nishikori and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez are also aiming for a place in the last 16.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (28) Andreas Seppi
Djokovic and Seppi will be going head-to-head for the 12th time in their careers when they clash in round three of the Australian Open on Friday. All 11 of their previous encounters have gone the way of Djokovic, who is 7-0 at Seppi’s expense on hard courts and 15-1 in total hard-court sets. Only in their first-ever showdown on this surface did the Italian take a set, a feat he accomplished despite ultimately going down 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 at the 2006 Rotterdam event. The only previous Grand Slam contest between the two players came last summer at the U.S. Open, where Djokovic cruised through a third-round affair 6-3, 7-5, 7-5.
Seppi will be eager to escape the 25-32 seed range because he has now drawn Djokovic as his 1-8 seed twice in a row at majors. That is anyone’s worst nightmare especially in Melbourne, where Djokovic has triumphed on five occasions–including four times in the last five years. The Serb is up to his usual tricks so far this fortnight, with straight-set defeats of youngsters Hyeon Chung and Quentin Halys. Seppi punched his ticket to the last 32 by taking out Teymuraz Gabashvili 12-10 in a fourth-set tiebreaker and Denis Kudla in straights. The 29th-ranked Italian is defending fourth-round points, as he stunned Roger Federer at this stage last season before losing a five-set thriller to Nick Kyrgios. Unfortunately for Seppi, rock-solid consistency from the back of the court will not be enough to challenge an opponent who is in the kind of form that Djokovic is showcasing right now.
Pick: Djokovic in 3 losing 8-10 games
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(26) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. (7) Kei Nishikori
Nishikori has never advanced past the Australian Open quarterfinals, but he has also made four consecutive trips to at least the fourth round–including two to the quarters. The world No. 7 is healthy and looking primed for another appearance in the second week Down Under. Nishikori opened with 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 beatdown of Philipp Kohlschreiber before earning a 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over Austin Krajicek.
Up next for Nishikori is a third career contest against Garcia-Lopez, whom he dominated on both previous occasions. The Spaniard lost 6-4, 6-4 eight years ago in Tokyo and 6-3, 6-1 at the 2014 Madrid Masters. Garcia-Lopez has advanced this fortnight with wins over Paul-Henri Mathieu (three sets) and Daniel Brands (four). The 32-year-old is a stellar 4-2 for the season, but he has not defeated anyone ranked better than 96th in the world. Garcia-Lopez would be especially competitive in this match on clay, but Nishikori will play on top of the baseline and keep his underdog opponent in defensive positions on this surface.
Pick: Nishikori in 3
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Nole in three losing 8-10 games and kei in four
Novak in 3 easy sets
Nishikori in 3 tight sets
Kei in 3 – losing more than 12 games. Go Kei!
Nole in 3 – guessing Seppi will win more games than I voted.
Novak in 3 sets, losing 8-10 games.
Kei in 3 sets, but I think it’s going to be close sets.
Left you a comment on your bracket, Nny. Forgot to compliment your picking. Is this your first bracket?
ratcliffe,
Yes it is for sure! And it will probably be my last! 🙂
You are doing great! Your a natural at it Nny.
Meant to us you’re. not your. And you are!
ratcliffe,
That’s nice of you to say so. I never thought I would do well in it, especially since you pick before even one match is played. But that’s the whole point!
I will go on there and respond before I call it a night early. I need some sleep and I have to be up early.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/14610890/novak-djokovic-says-allegation-fixing-2007-match-absurd
Novak on MCA
surprising
“new brand” tennis all over the place…both Nishi & GGL and those young guns play longer but constructive relies with winners on both ends…good tennis…
Kei is about to lose the 2nd set to GGL 🙁
You missed good tennis in the third set between Stan and Stepanek, now that’s good tennis. This is no where near.
I did not miss it, I did see it. And I respectively disagree…old Stepanek with attempts to S&V and Wawrinka losing focus resulted in a somewhat competitive set…otherwise Wawrinka’s dominance was apparent…
These young guns are so fast, moving well, hitting deep, I just enjoyed watching them…of course there is a reason why they are not yet in top 10…
Nishi plays great tennis…I always liked his tennis and when he is on fire he can beat anyone…
If Kei and Nole meet at AO, I’ll cheer for Kei. This is the GS Kei wants the most.
They are fast?? I bet Fed would rush them and made them look old and slow! You should have watched Fed vs Thiem at Brisbane this year.
You’re wrong when you said Stepanek S&V in third set. He was mixing in both baseline play and net charging. S&V didnt work for him in the first two sets.so he changed strategy. He used his brain whilst these youngsters simply want to blow anyone off the court hence all those winners.
Stepanek gave it all in that third set and won some points but Wawa let him do it with his own errors…of course he had changed the strategy, Wawa destroyed his S&V attempts in the first two sets…nice but not enough to win a set so nothing to be so impressed with…
Huh? Stepanek is 37 years old! Im certainly impressed with his skills; or, hard hitting tennis is your preferred taste, I see.
Actually these youngsters fit the bill of ‘new brand’ tennis, hitting the hell out of the ball and trying to blow anyone off the court. Its just that both of them dont have a lethal serve, if not points would be shorter.
Oh, that’s why I like the big four tennis, plus Davy’s and Kei’s. I like Delpo because of his awesome FH, Cilic when he’s in the zone and Stan for his unwavering hard hitting from both wings to beat Novak, though all three of them fit the bill of hard hitters and blowing opponents off the courts.
That’s why I said “new brand” of tennis all over the place…and that’s why I said there is a reason why they are not in the top 10…still, this new brand tennis as ‘hard hit and run a lot tennis’ would trouble Rafa…
And I disagree these young guns don’t use their brain…some of the selections of shots for ex. Thiem’s DTL winners were just amazing to watch…they sure will soon be in the top 10 blowing these old school thinkers off the court…
I dont mean all of them dont use their brains but certainly some. Why must you take things so literally?
Yeah they will soon blow the old school thinkers off the court, not because they’re better but because they’re stronger and hit harder and the old school thinkers are..guess what, getting OLD!
Yeah they will trouble Rafa but they have to close their eyes and still can hit without missing to beat Rafa.
here’s what Ricky wrote on twitter 52 minutes ago:
“friends don’t let friends not watch Thiem-Goffin. Make good decisions.”
LOL, I agree. I’m loving this – just hope my pick wins…
So Nishi is injured, asked for MTO, apparently right hand…I missed that as I switched to watching the youngsters…that’s so unfortunate for Nishi but not at all surprising…
Oh, so that’s it with Kei, nats.
I was watching Belinda Bencic.
Got 4 matches I’m following!
I saw Bencic, too.
This is my first time that I’ve been able to watch Thiem play…he has huge talent but is very inconsistent…he still has a long way to go in order to be able to win a slam…
Exactly. I’ve followed Thiem for a few years – but cooled on him last year. He’s better on clay, if I’m remembering right. Goffin is smart. Did you know “goffin” is a type of bird? a smart bird that can pick locks and get out of a cage? That’s a smart Goffin out there – he’ll win if there’s a possible way. Ranked as high as he is it’s a challenge though.
Both Thiem and Goffin look so slow out there, not going to cut it against Fed.
Thiem is better on clay, preferring to stay back at the baseline to rally.
Baby Wawa, Thiem. He might hit Goffin off the court – that’s my worry. (bracket pick Goffin over Thiem) Hawkstradamus is going to get an even bigger head about his lead, lol…
GGL smells blood.
Kei fought off 4 bps to take the set 6-4. Gosh, I feel bad for Kei with all the injuries; it’s tough for him if he has to play 4 and 5 set matches before he makes the quarterfinal. He won’t make it there.
Better court positioning makes a difference for Goffin.
Luckystar, does Goffin’s tennis remind you of Davydenko a little?
Not really, I feel Kei is more like Davy but with more fire power. Goffin stays more at the baseline whilst Davy moved up the court more often.
You are right. Kei is more like Davydenko. I wish Goffin would watch more Davydenko and copy that.
Thiem won a set and exhanged breaks in others but it never felt like he was threatening to win the match. A very comfortable victory for Goffin. There were some nice shots but too inconsistent from both players and not really a contest for it to be an interesting match.
I disagree, but I’m a Goffin fan so…
And I like early rounds of a GS.
From Ricky’s twitter – sounds like he’s a fan 😀
Ricky Dimon @Dimonator 7m7 minutes ago
great match between the next Ferrer and the next Haas. Shame it didn’t go 5.
both guys are going to be top 10 for many, many years. Really can’t see anyone arguing to the contrary.
was a very good match. Thiem always had a chance, but Goffin mentally tougher.
Yep
Goffin very impressive right now from what I’ve seen.
Thiem with Wawa-like power backhand breaking and hitting my Goffin off the court. hahaha but Goffin breaks back!
Kei wins. Had to do it in 4.
Ricky, the “Goffin Swag” is so fine.
lol
Slept through the Fed match, I had Fed in 3 and from the comments seems he wasn’t as sharp as expected. Super excited for the rest of this mornings tennis. Should be fun…. Cilic in 3, Kyrgios in 4, and Djoker in 3 losing 10-12 games
Seppi might not win 4 games …… Djokovic is SHARP at the moment
Honestly sometimes one wonders how to win baseline rallies against Djokovic
Novak isn’t getting it easy in these last two sets…I sense he was not expecting Seppi to play like this after a blowout in the first set…
Good for Seppi…he refuses to be humiliated out there…I admire his will and his attitude to fight no matter what…
Seppi choked in the tie-break throwing away two set points…those are the key points that I was talking about…Novak did nothing but Seppi did not believe he could take a set…against Rafa he would have won it as he would have had belief…or Rafa would have double faulted the set anyway…
Seppi’s always played djokovic tough… pity he could not take a set here.
According to Novak, Seppi hit very flat shots and it bothers him esp at MCA when the court is slower and lower bounce.
I do feel Novak doesnt like flat hitters, no wonder Seppi, Delpo and Simon could push him. Novak’s next opponent is Simon, another flat hitter but I think they’ll play at RLA which Novak prefers over MCA.
If stan catches fire, he can take Djokovic down. Djokovic would be the favourite but stan would definitely have a solid chance.
I agree…Stan and Andy may have a chance if Novak does not rise his level but I am sure he will…
Nishi and Tsonga if playing their best could also trouble Novak…but Nishi is injured and Tsonga is not playing well, so no way…Fed so far also not playing well enough to place any danger to Novak…
Not Andy I don’t think.
Not recently.
Are people noticing the attempts to snub Djokovic or to damage his focus? Wonder why no one here is discussing about the repeated questions thrown at him on the match fixing etc. Some Italian newspaper actually said he took money to loose match in Paris 2007
Also in todays match his name was put as Novack Djokovic on court :-)..Seriously??
Also his recorded message was the only one cut out from Hewitts tribute played out on RLA
Noticed that too sanju.
I fell for the trap and assumed Nole had snubbed him.
Never underestimate the federazzi machine. Knows no bounds.