Australian Open - Day Three

The Australian Open moves into the Second Round on day three with the matches of interest being:-

Noah Rubin V Roger Federer - I'd be surprised if Rubin takes more than ten games off Roger here.

Andy Murray V Andrey Rublev - Murray will hope to improve a lot on his first round showing. Should be done and dusted in straight sets with not too much fuss.

Stan Wawrinka V Steve Johnson - Interesting match this. Johnson has the weapons and Wawrinka the tendency to implode so this could be close or Stan may blow him off the court. Stan to win in three for me.

Jeremy Chardy V Kei Nishikori - Kei will not want another long match and I think he'll win in straights as Chardy has dipped a bit from where he was a year or so ago.

Dan Evans V Marin Cilic - The smart money has to be on Cilic but an upset would not be a massive surprise. Cilic (like Wawrinka) can blow hot and cold so if Evans can keep each set tight he may make a big match of this. Cilic to win in four.

Federer in 3
Murray in 3
Stan in 4
Nishikori in 3
Evans in 4 - Cilic has been poor this season and was taken to five by Janowicz in the first round. Evans doesn't have the weapons of Janowicz, but is playing well.

Nishikori through smoothly in three sets beating Chard in just over two hours. Just what he needed.

Rubin has played the first set pretty well, except the 12th game. Federer's foot speed is sluggish.

Wawrinka and Tsonga through in straight sets. Federer looked set for the same but the third set is now Rubin's if he can serve it out.

Federer wins 7-5 6-3 7-6 in just over two hours. A win is a win and all that and more rust dispatched.

After the Karlovic/Zeballos marathon yesterday it is Isner and Zverev's turn today. Over four hours play and they are level at 7-7 in the fifth set.

And as soon as I post that Zverev breaks Isner's serve to win 9-7 in the fifth set.

Sam Querrey romps to a straight sets win in well under two hours against Australian qualifier De Mineur and sets up a potential third round match against Andy Murray.

Evans looks set to lose the first set against Cilic. Murray due on court around 10am.

Cilic in firm control now leading 6-3 3-2 having just broken in the second set. Evans needs to dig in.

Evans does dig in to break back in the second set. If Evans can draw this out he may benefit.

And Dan Evans levels at one set all. He pushed his luck at times and got into Cilic's head who tightened up and the errors came. Over one and a half hours played and Cilic did have a five setter in the first round.

Evans has the momentum as Cilic is going through the mill mentally. Evans breaks in the third to lead 3-6 7-5 3-1.

this would be a pretty horrendous loss for Cilic. Don't mean disrespect to Evans but Cilic should be cleaning the floor with a player of his ranking. Just goes to show the importance of early matches, Cilic got pulled into a 5 setter in the 1st round and it can really take its toll.

It is so important for the top players to try and avoid getting pulled into unnecessary 5 setters in the 1st couple of rounds

meanwhile it would be hilarious if Seppi beat Kyrgios from 2 sets down. Have a lot of respect for Seppi, he has been around the block a long time and he always gives it his all.

Kyrgios on the other hand is a complete turkey, over rated too. For all his big talk, he has won very little

slashermcguirk wrote:this would be a pretty horrendous loss for Cilic. Don't mean disrespect to Evans but Cilic should be cleaning the floor with a player of his ranking. Just goes to show the importance of early matches, Cilic got pulled into a 5 setter in the 1st round and it can really take its toll.

It is so important for the top players to try and avoid getting pulled into unnecessary 5 setters in the 1st couple of rounds

Cilic is much in the Wawrinka mould. On their day a match for anyone but often prone to mental implosions leaving them often open to early exits at slams. That is where the real top players are that bit better.

Evans takes the third set 6-3 and leads two sets to one. If Cilic is to turn this around he needs to clear his head and cut down the unforced errors. To win he'll need to dig in and be prepared to win in well over three hours. If he does the next round surely offers a slightly easier round as he'd more than likely play Tomic - a match I'd expect him to win still.

I agree CC, Wawrinka and Cilic can be so sloppy, when they play poor they really can be woeful.

I am still trying to get my head around the fact that if Wawrinka won Wimbledon, he would have the career slam! I don't expect him to given his record on grass but if he played tennis from gods, you just never know. Who knows he could pull off another sneaky win here in oz, I didn't see his play yet so cannot judge his level

It will be interesting to see how the Federer vs Berdych match goes. On the one hand Berdbrain has not been playing well over the past year but he has a couple of good slam wins over Federer. Also Federer is only returning from injury and it looks like his 2nd round match was closer than you would expect against a qualifier.

If Fed turns up playing well, he will win but it could be a close one. I really did think a few years ago that Berdych would win one slam (kind of like what Cilic did at the US Open). However he just hasn't delivered. He had his chances as he has been in so many slam QFs but he always falls short. I don't think he trusts himself in the crunch moment. That being said I felt sorry for him in 2010 at Wimbledon, he beat Federer and Djokovic back to back but then had to face Nadal in the final. That was a very tough break !

A marathon second game of the fourth set on Evans serve in which he has had to save a number of break points - still on-going. This could be a match changer.

Epic game this. Superb stretching winner from Cilic to fashion out his 8th break point but Evans saves it.

And Evans holds after saving eight break points. They remain on serve.

If Evans could break here it could mentally finish Cilic.

Cilic spraying the errors and Evans breaks to lead 2-1 in the fourth set. Can Evans complete the coup de gras?

Murray getting underway against Rublev and level at 1-1.

Evans elevated to favourite status to win the match goes into his shell a little and Cilic breaks back to level at 2-2 in the fourth set. Lovely drop volley to break.

And Evans breaks again to lead 3-2 in the fourth. You feel a hold of serve here could do it.

And Evans gets that hold to lead 4-2. Murray breaks Rublev to lead 4-2.

Well slasher you got your wish. Seppi takes out Kyrgios 10-8 in the fifth set to send the Aussie packing.

Delighted to see Seppi come from two sets down to beat that complete Muppet Kyrgrios

Evans on the brink of the biggest win of his career leading 3-6 7-5 6-3 5-3. Murray leads 5-3.

And Dan Evans wins in four sets beating Marin Cilic. The match turned on its head after a set and a half and Evans now has a real opportunity to get into the second week as the draw is a little kinder to him here after.

Meanwhile, Murray wins the first set 6-3 against Rublev.

Fair play to Evans, was Cilic woeful?

Evans needs to avoid doing a Verdasco, follow up a win against a top player with an inexplicable loss against somebody ranked far worse in the next round. It is amazing how many times a lesser player beats a high ranked player and then goes and loses in the next round.

Tremendous win for Evans. Thiem and Cilic in consecutive weeks.

Tomic will start as favourite, but he has a good chance.

slashermcguirk wrote:Fair play to Evans, was Cilic woeful?

Evans needs to avoid doing a Verdasco, follow up a win against a top player with an inexplicable loss against somebody ranked far worse in the next round. It is amazing how many times a lesser player beats a high ranked player and then goes and loses in the next round.

Cilic really was quite mentally weak at key times. Credit to Evans though as he hung in there when he was under the cosh and exerted the pressure and this made Cilic tighten up. He just got into the Croat's head and messed it up and found a way to win.

Plain sailing for Murray so far as he leads Rublev 6-3 3-0.

Another fantastic result for Evans

Found it less than pleasant to watch Federer, looking so ungainly at times, amidst a seemingly countless string of UE's - in marked contrast to the impressive play from a guy ranked around 200 (really ...??) on the other side of the net. Sure, there will be a lot of rust with Fed and expectations should be set accordingly ; but there will have to be a serious step-up if he's to have any hope of going deep here. An extended Aussie family holiday maybe beckons instead ......

Seppi did so very, very well to stay calm in facing the customary madcap antics of Kyrgios - not to mention a very partisan crowd.

Murray scoffs a bagel and leads Rublev 6-3 6-0.

Ouch Murray goes over on his ankle when leading 6-3 6-0 1-1. Physio called for.

He looks ok now.

No treatment at the turn-around just a chat with the physio. Murray needs this done as soon as possible and leads 6-3 6-0 3-1.

Murray breaks again and is on the brink of a third round match against Sam Querrey. He leads 6-3 6-0 5-1.

I wonder which Sam Querrey will turn up against Murray, the one against Novak at Wimbledon or more likely the win the one that showed up at pretty much every other tournament in 2016! I am going for the latter.

Querrey will need to serve lights out just to get a set off Murray. He may sneak one set but no more than that. Murray leads their head to head 6-1 but strangely they have not played since 2014 and before that was 2012. Querreys only win was on a hard court.

Querrey has the potential to be dangerous but he is too inconsistent to be considered a real threat. I think that Wimbledon performance was a bit out of the blue and Novak was pretty woeful and that as we know was the start of his decline in the 2nd half of last year.

If Murray takes the opening set, I could see that match being over quite quick

Murray will have worked harder in practice sessions than he needs to here.

But you still have to put in a professional effort to get the job done, so all credit.

Sporting gesture from Murray there. A serve of his in was an ace but someone in the crowd called it out. Pascal Marie was willing to give Murray the point but Murray said we will play it again.

Murray wins 6-3 6-0 6-2

Well lags you make your own bed so to speak.Many seeds have crashed out here against far lower ranked players or been stretched to four or five sets. No easy games.

You would fully expect the World No 1 to progress today, but yes ... no easy games and an impressively swift victory against a clearly talented youngster.

Great that he's not flying the flag for GB alone - as he so often has to do - with other Brits still in the mix here.

Don't see Querrey being a problem for Murray, barring something extraordinary happening. Murray deals with the big servers probably better than anyone else (including Djokovic).

I actually think Murray may have had it too easy before a potential match with Nishikori or Berdych/Federer. Mischa Zverev or Jaziri will follow Querrey - not exactly the toughest R4 opponent he will have ever played.