TENNIS FROM DAY 7 @ THE 2017 AUSTRALIAN OPEN – ROGER FEDERER PLAYS KEI & MORE FROM RICKY DIMON’S PICKS

Written by: Staff on 21st January 2017

TENNIS FROM DAY 7 @ THE 2017 AUSTRALIAN OPEN - ROGER FEDERER PLAYS KEI & MORE FROM RICKY DIMON'S PICKS

epa05733154 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in action against Jack Sock of the United States during round three of the Men's Singles at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 January 2017. EPA/DEAN LEWINS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Ricky’s picks for Day 7 at the Australian Open, including Federer vs. Nishikori and Wawrinka vs. Seppi

By Ricky Dimon

The fourth round of the Australian Open will begin on Sunday, when Roger Federer’s tough draw continues against Kei Nishikori. Stan Wawrinka, Andreas Seppi, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals. Ricky previews and predicts some of the most intriguing Day 7 matchups.

(17) Roger Federer vs. (5) Kei Nishikori

Roger Federer of Switzerland in action against Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic during their Men’s Singles third round match for the Australian Open tennis tournament, in Melbourne, Australia, 20 January 2017. EPA/JULIAN SMITH

Like he often does at Grand Slams, Federer mostly sleepwalked past two qualifiers in the first two rounds. But when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Actually, it wasn’t even tough despite the fact that Federer got a bad draw on paper in the form of Tomas Berdych in the third round. It was supposed to be; but it wasn’t. Federer crushed Berdych 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in a lightning-fast one hour and 30 minutes and the 35-year-old Swiss was every bit as awesome as the scoreline suggests. He is 3-0 in his last three matches against Nishikori and 4-2 overall. As good as Nishikori is (No. 5 in the world), he is–with a few exceptions–one of those players who rarely loses when he isn’t supposed to lose but rarely wins when he isn’t supposed to win. Well, just watch Federer’s last three sets of tennis to know that Nishikori isn’t supposed to win this one.

Pick: Federer in 4

(4) Stan Wawrinka vs. Andreas Seppi

By his own admission, Wawrinka is way better at the latter stages of slams than he is at the beginning. So it should come with no real alarm bells that the 2014 Aussie winner went to five sets with Martin Klizan in round one and came within one point of going to five sets with Viktor Troicki in his third match. Seppi’s run to the last 16 has come from just about out of nowhere, as the Italian was a borderline disaster throughout this year. And the road hasn’t been easy. Back-to-back tough tests with Nick Kyrgios (Seppi saved one match point) and Steve Darcis may have taken something out of him. Now into the proverbial second week, Wawrinka should raise his level.

Pick: Wawrinka in 3

Dan Evans vs. (11) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Evans was no stranger to the third round of majors, and he played like someone who had been there before against Bernard Tomic on Friday night. The stage will be even bigger on Sunday, even though he is not facing an Aussie this time. Although Tsonga is by no means the toughest possible fourth-round draw for Evans, it won’t be easy. The 2008 Australian Open runner-up is a proven force Down Under and he made relatively convincing work of a red-hot Jack Sock on Friday. Evans is playing by far the best tennis of his career right now and he won’t end his best slam run ever without a fight, but Tsonga will be too powerful.

Pick: Tsonga in 4