Australian Open Day 6 Preview: Five Must-See Matches - UBITENNIS
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Australian Open Day 6 Preview: Five Must-See Matches

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The third round is upon us, when seeded players begin to run into each other. There are some marquee matchups on Saturday’s schedule, featuring players who combine for a total of 39 major singles titles. With temperatures forecasted to be dramatically cooler on Saturday, the level of play should be high in the following must-see matches.

Angelique Kerber vs. Maria Sharapova

This is the third round matchup that many of us circled as a potential blockbuster when the draws were created. They are the only two Australian Open champions in the women’s draw. The winner will be a favorite to make it to the semifinals at a minimum. These two have taken extremely different paths over the past two seasons, but both are on the comeback trail and playing their best tennis in some time. Sharapova holds a slight 4-3 edge in their head-to-head, but Kerber won their last two meetings. They’ve played some very tight matches: the last three times they played, they went the distance. Their most notable match was in the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2014, when Kerber prevailed 6-4 in the third. This match will be a huge proving ground for both women, who are eager to demonstrate they’re ready to return to the top of the game.

Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Tomas Berdych

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Here we have another battle of big name veterans, both of whom love to hit the ball big. The head-to-head in this matchup is also very tight, which Del Potro leads 5-4. Surprisingly, this is their first meeting at a major. Del Potro has definitely been the better player over the last 6 months, especially as Berdych ended his 2017 season early due to injury. Tomas has only played three matches in the past three months, but has played pretty well thus far this week. I expect Del Potro to be thoroughly tested, but the match-tough Argentinian should find a way to win.

Roger Federer vs. Richard Gasquet

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Well, the head-to-head here is not so close: Federer leads 16-2. Gasquet’s only victories came many years ago, and on clay. Roger has been in tremendous form thus far in 2018, both here and at the Hopman Cup. While it’s hard to imagine the 36-year-old can maintain his extraordinary level from 2017 throughout this year, it’s also hard to imagine a dip will happen in this match. That being said, no one saw his loss to Goffin coming at the ATP Finals. As many former pros have discussed, the older you get, the more off days you have. Even if Gasquet can’t keep up with Federer, two of the most beautiful one-handed backhands in the game will be on display.

Karolina Pliskova vs. Lucie Safarova

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Pliskova is my pick to go all the way and win her first major next Saturday. She’s a great hard court player, and the fast conditions in Melbourne suit her game. Since backing into the number one ranking after her second round loss at Wimbledon last summer, Pliskova has not played her best. But that pressure is now off her, and she showed signs of upping her game at the WTA Finals in October. Her seeded countrywoman is a step up in competition, so after this match we’ll have a better idea of exactly where her game is right now. These Czech players have met seven times, with Safarova’s only two victories coming on clay. Safarova is in pretty good form: Kerber had to save match points to oust her last week in Sydney. I expect some tight sets, with Pliskova hitting her way to victory in the end.

Alexander Zverev vs. Hyeon Chung

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This is yet another ATP Next Gen battle at this year’s Australian Open. At number four in the world, Zverev is a bit above Next Gen at this stage, but he lost to fellow youngster Borna Coric in New York last August. And Chung is also 1-0 against Zverev, having easily won their match on clay in Barcelona last year. Chung is playing with a lot of confidence, coming off his ATP Next Gen Finals win. An upset by the South Korean is not out of the question. The reward for the winner? A likely fourth round appointment with Novak Djokovic.

Australian Open Day 6 Order of play

Rod Laver Arena
(1) Simona Halep (Rom) v Lauren Davis (USA)
Hyeon Chung (Kor) v (4) Alexander Zverev (Ger)
(18) Ashleigh Barty (Aus) v Naomi Osaka (Jpn)
(21) Angelique Kerber (Ger) v Angelique Kerber(Rus)
(29) Richard Gasquet (Fra) v (2) Roger Federer (Swi)

Margaret Court Arena
Ana Bogdan (Rom) v (17) Madison Keys (USA)
(29) Lucie Safarova (Cze) v (6) Karolina Pliskova (Cze)
(5) Dominic Thiem (Aut) v (26) Adrian Mannarino (Fra),
(14) Novak Djokovic (Ser) v (21) Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spa)
Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) v (26) Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol)

Hisense Arena
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Blr) v (8) Caroline Garcia (Fra)
Julien Benneteau (Fra) v (25) Fabio Fognini (Ita)
(19) Tomas Berdych (Cze) v (12) Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg)

Court 2
Jamie Murray (Gbr) & Bruno Soares (Bra) v Leander Paes (Ind) & Purav Raja (Ind)
Maximilian Marterer (Ger) v Tennys Sandgren (USA)
Bernarda Pera (USA) v (20) Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze)
Samuel Groth (Aus) & Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) v (3) Jean-Julien Rojer (Ned) & Horia Tecau (Rom)

Court 3
Nadiia Kichenok (Ukr) & Anastasia Rodionova (Aus) v Kristyna Pliskova (Cze) & Donna Vekic (Cro)
(1) Lukasz Kubot (Pol) & Marcelo Melo (Bra) v Max Purcell (Aus) & Luke Saville (Aus)
Nick Kyrgios (Aus) & Matt Reid (Aus) v Jeremy Chardy (Fra) & Fabrice Martin (Fra)
Marton Fucsovics (Hun) v Nicolas Kicker (Arg)
Jennifer Brady (USA) & Vania King (USA) v (3) Ashleigh Barty (Aus) & Casey Dellacqua (Aus)

Court 7
Marcus Daniell (Nzl) & Dominic Inglot (Gbr) v Hugo Nys (Fra) & Benoit Paire (Fra)
Pablo Carreno-Busta (Spa) & Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa) v Scott Lipsky (USA) & David Marrero (Spa)
Viktorija Golubic (Swi) & Nina Stojanovic (Ser) v Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) & Aleksandra Krunic (Ser)
(6) Andrea Sestini Hlavackova (Cze) & Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) v Shuai Peng (Chn) & Max Mirnyi (Blr)

Court 8
Mona Barthel (Ger) & Carina Witthoeft (Ger) v (11) Shuko Aoyama (Jpn) & Zhaoxuan Yang (Chn)
(4) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra) & Nicolas Mahut (Fra) v Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (Chi) & Andrei Vasilevski (Blr)
Lara Arruabarrena (Spa) & Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spa) v (5) Timea Babos (Hun) & Kristina Mladenovic (Fra)
(15) Marcin Matkowski (Pol) & Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) v Robert Lindstedt (Swe) & Franko Skugor (Cro)
(8) Gabriela Dabrowski (Can) & Mate Pavic (Cro) v Lizette Cabrera (Aus) & Alex Bolt (Aus)

Court 13
(16) Barbora Krejcikova (Cze) & Katerina Siniakova (Cze) v Zarina Diyas (Kaz) & Magda Linette (Pol)
Sorana Cirstea (Rom) & Beatriz Haddad Maia (Bra) v (15) Alicja Rosolska (Pol) & Abigail Spears (USA)
(13) Nicole Melichar (USA) & Kveta Peschke (Cze) v Madison Brengle (USA) & Monica Puig (Pur)
Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) & Robert Farah (Col) v Storm Sanders (Aus) & Marc Polmans (Aus)

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Miami Open Daily Preview: Jannik Sinner Plays Daniil Medvedev in the Semifinals

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Jannik Sinner on Wednesday in Miami (twitter.com/miamiopen)

Semifinals in both men’s singles and women’s doubles will be played on Friday.

The men’s singles semifinals feature three of the top four seeds, but they do not include top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, who was upset by Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday evening.  Dimitrov will face Sascha Zverev on Friday for a spot in Sunday’s championship match.

The other men’s semi is a rematch of the epic Australian Open final, as well as a rematch from last year’s Miami final, between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev

And in the women’s doubles semifinals, it will be four Americans, two Italians, and a Canadian teaming with a Kiwi.

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Friday’s play gets underway at 1:00pm local time.


Daniil Medvedev (3) vs. Jannik Sinner (2) –  Not Before 3:00pm on Stadium Court

In the championship match of January’s Australian Open, an exhausted Medvedev, who had already played three five-setters, started out unusually aggressive.  It caught Sinner off-guard, and won Daniil the first two sets.  But Jannik showed an extreme amount of composure for someone down two sets in his first Major final, and rather comfortably claimed the next three, as well as the biggest title of his career.

Overall Medvedev leads their head-to-head 6-4, with all 10 meetings on hard courts.  However, you can divide their history into two parts.  Medvedev won the first six matches, with the most recent coming in the final of Miami a year ago.  Since then, Sinner has taken the last four, which all took place between this past October and January. 

In the absence of Djokovic, and with Alcaraz only winning one title since last July, these two are definitively the best two hard court players the ATP has to offer.  Since last summer, Sinner has reached six hard court finals, while Medvedev has reached five.  Yet notably, their results in those finals tell contrasting stories.  Jannik has gone 5-1, while Daniil has gone 0-5.

Sinner has been the ATP’s best big match player across the past six months.  And on Friday, he should be favored to earn his fifth consecutive victory over Medvedev.


Grigor Dimitrov (11) vs. Sascha Zverev (4) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court

Grigor Dimitrov just may be playing the best tennis of his career.  He simply outhit and outshined Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday night, mixing highlight-reel winners with a mature and composed demeanor.  Grigor has only been broken twice through four matches in Miami, and is into his third Masters 1000 semifinal out of the last four.  With a victory on Friday, the 32-year-old would return to the top 10 for the first time since 2018.

2018 was also the last time Zverev reached the final of this tournament.  But he’s just one win away from a repeat appearance, and has won all eight sets he’s played this fortnight.  Sascha has only been broken once to this stage, to reach just his second Masters 1000 semifinal since an ankle injury cut his 2022 season short in June of that year.

This rivalry has been nearly completely one-sided.  Dimitrov won their first matchup, a full decade ago when Zverev was still ranked outside the top 100.  But ever since, it’s been all Sacha, as he’s won the last seven.  The German will also be the much fresher player on Friday, as he’s spent considerably less time on court.  And as high as Grigor’s level has been, he remains just 2-8 in Masters 1000 semifinals.  I give the edge to Zverev to advance.


Other Notable Matches on Friday:

Asia Muhammad and Alycia Parks vs. Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe (2) – Muhammad and Parks are infrequent partners, yet have survived three deciding-set tiebreaks to reach this stage.  Dabrowski and Routliffe are the reigning US Open champions.

Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (ALT) vs. Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini (OSE) – Kenin and Mattek-Sands already won a title this season (Abu Dhabi), as have Errani and Paolini, who were victorious in Linz.


Friday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Miami Open Daily Preview: Elena Rybakina Plays Victoria Azarenka in the Semifinals

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Elena Rybakina on Tuesday in Miami (twitter.com/miamiopen)

The men’s singles quarterfinals conclude on Thursday, while the women’s singles semifinals will both be played.

2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina faces three-time Miami Open champ Victoria Azarenka on Thursday.  The other WTA semifinal sees Ekaterina Alexandrova, who has now taken out top five seeds in consecutive rounds (Swiatek, Pegula), play an in-form American in Danielle Collins,

Plus, the second two ATP singles quarterfinals will be contested.  2022 champ Carlos Alcaraz squares off against Grigor Dimitrov, who has been playing some of the best tennis of his career.  And 2018 runner-up Sascha Zverev takes on Fabian Marozsan, a red-hot Hungarian who is now 14-3 at Masters 1000 level.

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Thursday’s play gets underway at 1:00pm local time.


Elena Rybakina (4) vs. Victoria Azarenka (27) – Not Before 3:00pm on Stadium Court

Rybakina is 21-3 on the year, after surviving a stern test from an in-form Maria Sakkari on Tuesday night.  Elena has already claimed two titles this season (Brisbane, Abu Dhabi), and reached another final (Doha).  This is her seventh WTA 1000 semifinal since last March, and she’s 4-2 in this round.

Azarenka is 14-5 this season, and has now accumulated 44 match wins at this event, the most of any WTA 1000 tournament.  She defeated two seeded players to this stage (Zheng, Boulter), both in straight sets.  This is a fifth Miami Open semifinal for the three-time champ.

Rybakina is 3-0 against Azarenka, with all three meetings occurring within the last few years on hard courts.  She took the first two in straight sets, and then split sets with Vika last month in Dubai, before Azarenka retired.  Despite Vika’s great history at this tournament, recent form dictates Elena must be considered the favorite to achieve a second consecutive final in Miami. 


Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (11) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court

Coming off his title run in Indian Wells, Alcaraz has been in stellar form.  He has not dropped a set through three matches, playing confident and composed tennis.  Carlitos is vying for a third straight semifinal appearance in Miami.

Until this week, this was the only Masters 1000 event where Dimitrov had failed to reach the quarterfinals or better, and he held a losing record of 11-12 in Miami.  But across the past six months, Grigor has been playing at a very high level.  Since the Shanghai Masters in October, he’s gone 28-7, and advanced to three tournament finals.  In the last round, he looked completely gassed at the end of a near three-hour match against Hubert Hurkacz, yet escaped in a third-set tiebreak.

Alcaraz leads their head-to-head 3-1, though Dimitrov’s only victory was their most recent encounter, six months ago in Shanghai when Grigor began this nice run.  But beating Carlitos again when the Spaniard is seemingly at the peak of his abilities will be an entirely different story.  Alcaraz should be favored on Thursday.


Other Notable Matches on Thursday:

Sascha Zverev (4) vs. Fabian Marozsan – Zverev is yet to drop a set, and ousted Karen Khachanov in the last round.  Marozsan has now reached the fourth round or better in all four of his Masters 1000 appearances, and already took out two top 10 seeds during this fortnight (Rune, de Minaur).  This will be their first career meeting.

Ekaterina Alexandrova (14) vs. Danielle Collins – As per Diego Barbiani on Twitter, Alexandrova’s comeback win over Pegula was the first time she’s beaten a top 10 player after losing the first set, coming after 25 losses.  Collins has played ferociously to achieve her second WTA 1000 semifinal, taking 10 consecutive sets where her opponent has failed to win more than three games.  This is another first-time encounter.


Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Revitalised Grigor Dimitrov Targets Alcaraz Upset In Miami

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(credit Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium)

Grigor Dimitrov says playing at this year’s Miami Open has been ‘kryptonite’ for his tennis after reaching the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 event for the first time at the age of 32. 

The 11th seed secured his place in the last eight with a dramatic 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), win over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz who uncharacteristically lost his cool in the closing stages. Tied at 2-2 in the deciding tiebreaker, Hurkacz slammed his racket on the ground after the umpire ruled that his foot touched the net which resulted in Dimitrov winning that point. The Pole demanded to see a replay but wasn’t allowed to do so as the umpire was certain that he did. A replay after the match confirmed that he did touch the net. 

“Grigor had hit a little bit of an unconventional return. I hit a good second serve and yeah, I was just trying to get to the ball and I slid,” said Hurkacz. “My coach told me after the match – because I was just sliding and I didn’t feel anything – but my coach told me that I touched the net at the end. So yeah, just a bit unfortunate.”
“I couldn’t feel anything because I was just sliding, so I wanted to see a replay,” explained Hurkacz. “But anyway, I tried to move on and keep playing, but Grigor came up with some good shots.”

As for Dimitrov, it is the second time he has beaten a top 10 player on the Tour during what has been a strong start to the season for him. He has won 18 out of 22 matches played so far in 2024 and has become only the ninth active player to reach the quarter-finals or better at every Masters event at least once. Dimitrov has reached the last eight in three out of the last four tournaments he has played in this category. 

Awaiting the Bulgarian next will be Carlos Alcaraz who won the Indian Wells title earlier this month. He has only beaten the Spaniard once in their four previous meetings on the Tour. However, the only time Dimitrov did so was in their most recent encounter at the Shanghai Masters last October. 

“It’s been like a kryptonite for me, this tournament,” Dimitrov said after his latest win.
“I’m looking forward to the (next) match. Everyone wants to challenge the best of the world. Clearly [Carlos has] been playing outstanding tennis, but so am I.
“I’ve been very consistent on a lot of ends. I think if I clean up my game a little bit it can be very interesting. I’m excited because these are the types of matches I want to play. First time in the quarter-finals here, I think it gives you an extra boost.”

A rejuvenated Dimitrov certainly can trouble Alcaraz who admits himself that he faces a stern challenge. The world No.2 sealed his place in the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-3, win over Lorenzo Musetti. 

“I know he’s a really talented player, a really tough one.” Alcaraz said of Dimitrov.
“Here with the court, I feel that the slice a lot is going to be difficult for me. I know that. But I try to play my best game and try to get the victory.”

Dimitrov is currently playing in his 94th Masters 1000 event. 

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