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  • Round 3 Preview - Third Quarter of the Draw

    1/17/08 10:11 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - When the Australian Open draw was revealed a few days before the start of the tournament, it looked like the top half was by far the strongest section. But after two rounds, the third quarter of the bracket is shaping up to be one of the most enticing for tennis fans.

    The Mikhail Youzhny vs. Ivo Karlovic matchup should not only be the best clash of the third round in this section of the draw, but it also should be one of the best head-to-head battles of the entire tournament so far. Both players are coming into this match on top of their games, as Youzhny won the tournament in Chennai two weeks ago and Karlovic enjoyed an outstanding run on the hard courts at the end of 2007. The first two rounds at the Australian Open have been relatively comfortable for both Youzhny and Karlovic. The Russian will try to dictate play on the baseline with his stellar one-handed backhand while the Croat will try to overwhelm his opponent with huge serves and follow his biggest weapon into the net. These two players have never faced each other before.

    The three other third round matches in this quarter have clear-cut favorites. Eighth-seeded Richard Gasquet is expected to advance over Russian Igor Andreev, but it won’t be without some trouble. Andreev has been in fine form of late and after dropping the opening set Down Under against Andrei Pavel in the first round, he’s won six straight sets. The key in this match will be Gasquet’s one-handed backhand against Andreev’s heavy topspin forehand. On clay this would be a barnburner, but the Plexicushion surface should favor the Frenchman. Andreev leads the head-to-head meetings between these two 3-2, but Gasquet won most recently on the hard courts of Sydney just two weeks ago.

    Another fast-rising Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, has been one of the most impressive performers through two rounds at the Australian Open. After upsetting Andy Murray in a fourth-set tiebreaker in the first round, Tsonga rolled over Sam Warburg in round 2. He should have a second consecutive routine match against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Friday. Garcia-Lopez upset Juan Ignacio Chela in the first round and took out Alejandro Falla in the second, so he is playing well, but he would have a much better opportunity in this matchup on clay. The hard courts will favor the powerful Frenchman. This will be the first-ever meeting between Tsonga and Garcia-Lopez.

    Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko got a bit of a break when in-form Stanislas Wawrinka retired in his match with Frenchman Marc Gicquel in the fourth set. That’s not to say Davydenko will have an easy time of it with Gicquel, but Wawrinka was looking good heading into the Australian Open. Gicquel squeaked by Yen-Hsun Lu in five sets in the first round before holding a two sets to one advantage at the time of Wawrinka’s retirement. Davydenko, meanwhile, has been dominant so far. The Russian rolled over Michael Llodra—who won the season-opening event in Adelaide—in the first round and scored another straight-set victory in the second round over Nicolas Mahut. Davydenko and Gicquel have played once before, last year on the hard courts of Rotterdam, and Davydenko cruised to a routine 6-3, 6-3 win.

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