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Second Half
Third Quarter
Underdog David Ferrer will have a lot to prove at the Australian Open
Third seed David Ferrer and seventh seed Tomas Berdych are the top seeds featuring in this quarter. Other prominent names include Tommy Haas, Jerzy Janowicz, Mikhail Youzhny and Alexandr Dolgopolov.
At the top half of the quarter, Berdych will start his Australian Open campaign against Kazakh player Aleksandr Nedovyesov. His second round opponent will either be Frenchman Kenny de Schepper or wild card entrant Wu Di. Super-serving Ivo Karlovic could be Berdych’s opponent in the third round while a possible encounter against 12th seed Haas looms large for the Czech in the fourth round.
Columbian Alejandro Gonzalez will face Ferrer in the opening round at the bottom half of this quarter. The Spaniard’s second round match-up could be against either Frenchman Adrian Mannarino or American Steve Johnson, with a possible third round match against Dolgopolov or 29th seed Jeremy Chardy. 14th seed Mikhail Youzhny or 20th seed Jerzy Janowicz are the toss-up guys for Ferrer to play against in the fourth round, an interesting prospect considering that both players haven’t had the perfect of starts to their ’14 season.
Quarter-final Prediction: Tomas Berdych to win over David Ferrer in straight sets
Fourth Quarter
Stanislas Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic could meet up in the quarter-final in a potential rematch of their 2013 Australian Open fourth round epic.
Where the top half seem to have the trickiest match-ups possible, the bottom half of the men’s singles draw at the Australian Open seems to have very little as far as challenges are concerned. Stanislas Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic are the undoubted top picks in this quarter. Other names that dot this 32-member playing field include Ernests Gulbis, Vasek Pospisil, Richard Gasquet and Fabio Fognini.
Chennai Open winner Wawrinka will take on Andrey Golubev in the first round with a possible third round match against Nicholas Mahut or 28th seed Pospisil. The Swiss could have a tough battle on his hands in the fourth round against anyone amongst Gasquet, Davydenko and Tommy Robredo.
Amongst the ‘Big Four’, it’s Novak Djokovic who’s coming into the tournament with no match practice in any ATP tournament. But his aura of superiority at the Australian Open makes him the favourite to defend his title for the fourth straight time. The Serb’s opening round will be against Lukas Lacko of Slovakia. Unpredictable Cypriot Marcus Baghdatis could be Djokovic’s opponent in the third round with a possible pre-quarter final against 15th seed Fognini or 23th seed Gulbis.
Quarter-final Prediction: Novak Djokovic to win over Stanislas Wawrinka in four sets
Beyond the quarters
Roger Federer has made it to the semi-finals or better in the Australian Open since having won it in 2004.
Semi-final 1: Rafael Nadal to win over Roger Federer in four sets
Semi-final 2: Novak Djokovic to win over Tomas Berdych in straight sets
Final: Novak Djokovic to defend and retain his Australian Open title with a four-set victory over Rafael Nadal.
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