Day 4 will include some big names facing off in second round matches, as several former top 10 players battle their way back from injuries and subpar results. Are any of them ready to take out a high seed? Let’s take a deeper look at Thursday’s most compelling contests.
Garbine Muguruza (18) vs. Johanna Konta
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Here are two top players from previous years coming off disappointing 2018 seasons. After winning a Major title in both 2016 and 2017, Muguruza went just 8-4 at Grand Slam events last year. Konta had an even worse year, going 2-4 at the Slams and is consequently unseeded at this event. The British No.1 then split with yet another coach, Michael Joyce, and is now working with Dimitri Zavialoff, the former coach of Stan Wawrinka. Konta played for nearly three hours on Tuesday, outlasting Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in a third set tiebreak. Muguruza spent almost two hours less on court, winning her opening round in straight sets. Konta holds a 2-1 edge over Muguruza, with Johanna’s last win coming during her breakout run at the 2015 US Open. Garbine has been dealing with a leg injury to start the year, and retired from both the Hopman Cup and the Sydney warm-up event. The healthier and more confident Konta should be favored here over the 18th seed.
Milos Raonic (16) vs. Stan Wawrinka
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What a brutal draw for the 16th seed. After drawing Nick Kygrios in the first round, Raonic gets Three-Time Major Champion Stan Wawrinka in the second round. Milos took out an injured Kyrgios in straight sets, while Wawrinka was down a set to Ernests Gulbis before Gulbis had to retire with a back injury. Stan is 4-2 lifetime against Milos, though the Canadian took both of their last two matches. Raonic won a five-setter at the Australian Open three years ago, and defeated Wawrinka in straight sets at last year’s US Open. The fast-paced hard courts in Melbourne should play to Milos’ advantage, especially since Stan likes having more time to set up his big swings. But Wawrinka is determined to recapture his past glory, and certainly has fond memories of some great Australian Open wins. Recent form and results favor Raonic, but don’t count out the fighting spirit and shot-making of Wawrinka.
Serena Williams (16) vs. Eugenie Bouchard
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Serena needed only 49 minutes to win her opening round match. Similarly, a rejuvenated Bouchard dropped just three games on Tuesday, and also advanced in less than an hour. It’s been a rough few years for Bouchard, who has struggled with her confidence and admitted to losing her love for the game. Six months ago, the 24-year-old was barely ranked inside the top 200. But she ended 2018 by advancing to the final in Luxembourg after coming through qualifying, and is now back in the top 100. Bouchard has lost both times she’s faced Serena, though they haven’t played since 2014. Still, Serena played top-notch tennis on Tuesday, and should comfortably advance here. There are no parts of Bouchard’s game that should complicate matters for the 23-time Major champion.
Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
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This is a rematch from the 2008 Australian Open final. That would be the first of 14 Major singles titles for Djokovic (and counting), while Tsonga has never returned to a Grand Slam final. That final 11 years ago was their first career meeting. Overall Djokovic is 16-6 against Tsonga, and has won 13 of their last 14 matches. Jo’s last victory came at the Rogers Cup in 2014. Tsonga now finds himself ranked 177th in the world, as he missed over six months of 2018 due to injury. But the Frenchman got three solid wins in Brisbane to begin 2019, and took out Martin Klizan in straight sets on Tuesday. Djokovic though is at the height of his abilities, and will be too much for the returning Tsonga to handle. The crowd in Australia is quite fond of Jo, so perhaps he can feed off their energy to make this a fun one to watch.
Simona Halep (1) vs. Sofia Kenin
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The world No.1 impressively came back from a set and a break down against Kaia Kanepi in the opening round, with Kanepi sending a barrage of powerful groundstrokes across the net. That was Halep’s first victory since Cincinnati five months ago. She is still rediscovering her form after shutting down her 2018 season early due to a back injury. Kenin, a 20-year-old American, arrives at this second round encounter with a lot of momentum. Sofia was heartbroken after the final women’s match of 2018, when she lost a near four-hour epic at the Fed Cup final to Katerina Siniakova. But she quickly got over that emotional loss, and won her first WTA title just a few days ago in Hobart. Kenin could push Halep on Thursday, and keep in mind it was another young American, Lauren Davis, who pushed Simona to 15-13 in the third set a year ago in Melbourne. The result here will likely depend upon how close to her best Halep is. Tuesday’s comeback win will give her some much-needed confidence, and she should get through this challenge as well if she plays as she did during the second half of her opening round.
Other notable matches on Day 4:
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- Sascha Zverev (4) vs. Jeremy Chardy, who came through in a fifth set tiebreak on Tuesday
- Naomi Osaka (4) vs. 21-Year-Old Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia, who upset Australia’s Daria Gavrilova on Tuesday
- Kei Nishikori (8), who barely survived his opening round match thanks to his opponent cramping and retiring, vs. 39-Year-Old Ivo Karlovic
- Venus Williams, who needed almost three hours to prevail in the first round, vs. the never-dull Alize Cornet
- US Open Semifinalist Anastasija Sevastova (13) vs. 18-Year-Old Canadian Qualifier Bianca Andreescu, who upset Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams on her way to the final in Auckland two weeks ago.
Order of play
Rod Laver Arena | Play begins from 12am GMT
Viktoria Kuzmova (Svk) v (6) Elina Svitolina (Ukr)
Stan Wawrinka (Swi) v (16) Milos Raonic (Can)
(1) Simona Halep (Rom) v Sofia Kenin (USA)
Eugenie Bouchard (Can) v (16) Serena Williams (USA)
(1) Novak Djokovic (Ser) v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra)
Margaret Court Arena | Play begins from 12am GMT
Ivo Karlovic (Cro) v (8) Kei Nishikori (Jpn)
(4) Naomi Osaka (Jpn) v Tamara Zidansek (Slo)
Alize Cornet (Fra) v Venus Williams (USA)
(4) Alexander Zverev (Ger) v Jeremy Chardy (Fra)
Johanna Konta (Gbr) v (18) Garbine Muguruza (Spa)
Melbourne Arena | Play begins from 12am GMT
Madison Brengle (USA) v (7) Karolina Pliskova (Cze)
Anastasia Potapova (Rus) v (17) Madison Keys (USA)
(24) Hyeon Chung (Kor) v Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra)
Alexei Popyrin (Aus) v (7) Dominic Thiem (Aut)
Court 5 | Play begins from 12am GMT
(1) Oliver Marach (Aut) & Mate Pavic (Cro) v Simone Bolelli (Ita) & Andreas Seppi (Ita)
Kimberly Birrell (Aus) & Priscilla Hon (Aus) v Harriet Dart (Gbr) & Anett Kontaveit (Est)
Radu Albot (Mol) & Malek Jaziri (Tun) v (8) Ben McLachlan (Jpn) & Jan-Lennard Struff (Ger)
Court 7 | Play begins from 12am GMT
(3) Jamie Murray (Gbr) & Bruno Soares (Bra) v Roman Jebavy (Cze) & Andres Molteni (Arg)
(16) Shuai Peng (Chn) & Zhaoxuan Yang (Chn) v Victoria Azarenka (Blr) & Ashleigh Barty (Aus)
(21) David Goffin (Bel) v Marius Copil (Rom)
Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) & John-Patrick Smith (Aus) v Marcus Daniell (Nzl) & Wesley Koolhof (Ned)
Court 8 | Play begins from 12am GMT
(21) Qiang Wang (Chn) v Aleksandra Krunic (Ser)
(32) Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) v Joao Sousa (Por)
Ryan Harrison (USA) v (15) Daniil Medvedev (Rus)
Court 10 | Play begins from 12am GMT
(3) Gabriela Dabrowski (Can) & Yi Fan Xu (Chn) v Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) & Marketa Vondrousova (Cze)
Amanda Anisimova (USA) & Danielle Collins (USA) v (9) Raquel Atawo (USA) & Katarina Srebotnik (Slo)
Pauline Parmentier (Fra) & Maria Sakkari (Gre) v Xinyu Jiang (Chn) & Qiang Wang (Chn)
Elise Mertens (Bel) & Aryna Sabalenka (Blr) v (15) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) & Demi Schuurs (Ned)
Court 12 | Play begins from 12am GMT
Astra Sharma (Aus) & Isabelle Wallace (Aus) v Jennifer Brady (USA) & Alison Riske (USA)
(7) Hao-Ching Chan (Tpe) & Latisha Chan (Tpe) v Ellen Perez (Aus) & Arina Rodionova (Aus)
(10) Irina-Camelia Begu (Rom) & Mihaela Buzarnescu (Rom) v Lizette Cabrera (Aus) & Jaimee Fourlis (Aus)
(13) Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) & Johanna Larsson (Swe) v Timea Bacsinszky (Swi) & Vera Zvonareva (Rus)
Court 13 | Play begins from 12am GMT
Luksika Kumkhum (Tha) & Evgeniya Rodina (Rus) v Alison Bai (Aus) & Zoe Hives (Aus)
Ilya Ivashka (Blr) v (23) Pablo Carreno-Busta (Spa)
(28) Lucas Pouille (Fra) v Maximilian Marterer (Ger)
Court 14 | Play begins from 12am GMT
Guido Pella (Arg) & Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (Chi) v (11) Rajeev Ram (USA) & Joe Salisbury (Gbr)
Taylor Harry Fritz (USA) & Cameron Norrie (Gbr) v Mirza Basic (Bih) & Damir Dzumhur (Bih)
Andrea Petkovic (Ger) & Monica Puig (Pur) v (11) Eri Hozumi (Jpn) & Alicja Rosolska (Pol)
Matthew Ebden (Aus) & Robert Lindstedt (Swe) v Steve Johnson (USA) & Denis Kudla (USA)
Court 15 | Play begins from 12am GMT
James Duckworth (Aus) & Jordan Thompson (Aus) v Kenneth Skupski (Gbr) & Neal Skupski (Gbr)
Laura Siegemund (Ger) v (28) Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe)
Shuai Zhang (Chn) v Kristyna Pliskova (Cze)
Bernarda Pera (USA) & Rebecca Peterson (Swe) v (8) Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) & Abigail Spears (USA)
Court 19 | Play begins from 12am GMT
Jack Sock (USA) & Jack Withrow (USA) v (2) Juan Sebastian Cabal (Col) & Robert Farah (Col)
Raluca Olaru (Rom) & Galina Voskoboeva (Kaz) v (2) Timea Babos (Hun) & Kristina Mladenovic (Fra)
Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) & Irina Khromacheva (Rus) v Zarina Diyas (Kaz) & Yulia Putintseva (Kaz)
Philipp Oswald (Aut) & Tim Puetz (Ger) v Pablo Cuevas (Uru) & Fernando Verdasco (Spa)
Court 20 | Play begins from 12am GMT
Sorana Cirstea (Rom) & Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) v Ying-Ying Duan (Chn) & Vera Lapko (Blr)
Timea Bacsinszky (Swi) v Natalia Vikhlyantseva (Rus)
Evgeny Donskoy (Rus) v Filip Krajinovic (Ser)
Court 22 | Play begins from 12am GMT
Alexa Guarachi (Chi) & Alison Van Uytvanck (Bel) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Blr) & Taylor Townsend (USA)
Veronika Kudermetova (Rus) & Sabrina Santamaria (USA) v Belinda Bencic (Swi) & Donna Vekic (Cro)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) & Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) v Xinyun Han (Chn) & Darija Jurak (Cro)
1573 Arena | Play begins from 12am GMT
(27) Camila Giorgi (Ita) v Iga Swiatek (Pol)
(12) Elise Mertens (Bel) v Margarita Gasparyan (Rus)
(12) Fabio Fognini (Ita) v Leonardo Mayer (Arg)
Taro Daniel (Jpn) v (25) Denis Shapovalov (Can)
Court 3 | Play begins from 12am GMT
Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (Can) v (13) Anastasija Sevastova (Lat)
(11) Borna Coric (Cro) v Marton Fucsovics (Hun)
Alex Bolt (Aus) v (29) Gilles Simon (Fra)
(23) Carla Suarez Navarro (Spa) v Dayana Yastremska (Ukr)