RICKY DIMON LOOKS @ THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 4 MEN’S SCHEDULE, WITH DJOKOVIC, WAWRINKA, AND MONFILS IN ACTION

Written by: Staff on 21st January 2015

RICKY DIMON LOOKS @ THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 4 MEN'S SCHEDULE, WITH DJOKOVIC, WAWRINKA, AND MONFILS IN ACTION

epa04572042 Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan plays Monica Puig of Puerto Rico during their second round match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 21 January 2015. The Australian Open tennis tournament goes from 19 January until 01 February 2015. EPA/LUKAS COCH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

The first three days of the Australian Open were nothing short of phenomenal. Five-setters galore, plenty of upsets, Aussies faring well at their home slam, and drama involving the top players in the world have ruled the tournament. What will Day 4 do for an encore? We’ll see when Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, and many others take the court.

A look at some of Thursday’s top matches:

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Andrey Kuznetsov: Kuznetsov is basically the same player as Djokovic’s first-round opponent, Aljaz Bedene, except with more Grand Slam experience. The result should be the same as well: a straightforward, straight-set victory. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal–to a much greater extent than Federer–struggled in round two. Djokovic should not.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia during his first round match against Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 20 January 2015. The Australian Open tennis tournament goes from 19 January until 01 February 2015. EPA/Barbara Walton

(4) Stan Wawrinka vs. (Q) Marius Copil: It’s almost as if Wawrinka sacrificed someone or something to the Australian Open gods last year. First Nadal got injured during the warmup for the 2014 final. Now the Swiss is getting a dream draw. He played world No. 100 Marsel Ilhan in round one. Now he’s playing a qualifier. Wawrinka’s three nearest seeds (Pablo Cuevas, Alexandr Dolgopolov, and Fabio Fognini) are already out of the tournament. Merry late Christmas!

Jerzy Janowicz vs. (17) Gael Monfils: Janowicz at one point had the marquee matchup of the first round (vs. Juan Martin Del Potro, who eventually withdrew). Now he has the marquee matchup of the second round against another opponent whose injury history is vast. The question in Janowicz vs. Monfils is not which man is a risky pick. The question is which man is riskier. The answer is probably the Pole, whose problem is on the mental side. Monfils’ problem is the physical side. In what is sure to be a tense match, any mental fragility could spell doom.

Gael Monfils of France returns the ball to Lucas Pouille of France during their first round match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, 20 January 2015. EPA/JULIAN SMITH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

Benjamin Becker vs. Lleyton Hewitt: Turn back the clock, because a pair of 33-year-olds are set to battle for a spot in the third round Down Under. Australia’s young guns can try all they want to steal the spotlight (and they are doing a darn good job of it), but Hewitt appears not yet ready to pass the torch entirely. The guy just won’t go away. Then again, neither will Becker. This should be a good one, and the atmosphere should be another great one inside Rod Laver Arena.

(30) Santiago Giraldo vs. Steve Johnson: The story for American men this week has been close but no cigar. Denis Kudla, Sam Querrey, and Tim Smyczek have good excuses for their five-set losses. Kudla is inexperienced. Querrey is Querrey. And Smyczek had to play Nadal. Johnson has no excuse against Giraldo…. And he won’t need one.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Atp, AusOpen, Gael Monfils, Novak Djokovic, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

January 21, 2015 at 10:06 am

-@Dimonator LOOKS @ THE #AustralianOpen DAY 4 MEN’S SCHEDULE, WITH @DjokerNole, @stanwawrinka, AND MONFILS IN ACTION- http://t.co/VLgQ5GvaC2
Dimonator says:

January 21, 2015 at 10:09 am

RT @10sBalls_com: -@Dimonator LOOKS @ THE #AustralianOpen DAY 4 MEN’S SCHEDULE, WITH @DjokerNole, @stanwawrinka, AND MONFILS IN ACTION- htt…