Australian Open Men’s Singles Draw : Preview

Published 01/11/2018, 4:58 AM EST

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The Australian Open men’s singles draw and the women’s singles draw were announced today in the presence of former WTA star Cara Black. We look at some of the potential match-ups and some mouth-watering first round encounters in the Australian Open men’s singles draw.

Rafael Nadal will begin his campaign against the 83 ranked Estrella Burgos. Nadal, as we know has not had any match practice, having played only one match at the Kooyong classic, which he lost. John Millman takes on Borna Coric, which is another interesting match to watch out for in the first round. Rafael Nadal has the youngster Diego Schwartzman in his draw who has had an impressive 2017 himself. Diego will take on Dusan Lajovic in his first round encounter.

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Alexander Dolgopolov, Carreno Busta and Gilles Simon are in the second quarter of the draw. Simon is coming fresh off a title in India at the Pune open. Mikhail Youzhny takes on Pablo Cuevas in an enticing first round encounter. Dudi Sela vs Ryan Harrison is another first round encounter to look forward to. David Ferrer who had a disappointing  2017 will begin his campaign against the promising youngster Andrey Rublev. It looks like it’s going to be a slug fest in the first round for the youngster. Nick Kyrgios is on a collision course with the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, they could meet as early as in the second round.

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US open finalist Kevin Anderson opens up his campaign against Kyle Edmund, which is a mouth-watering first round encounter, having gone the distance the last time they met at the US open. The winner of this match could meet Denis Istomin in the second round. Istomin as we very well remember knocked out the joker in the last Australian open in the very second round. Big serving Ivo Karlovic, Jack Sock, Dominic Thiem and Kohlschreiber are all in the same half of the draw. Bautista Agut opens up his campaign against his compatriot Fernando Verdasco.

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Novak Djokovic is also in the same half of the Australian Open men’s singles draw and is seeded number 14 for the year’s first slam. He will open up against Donald Young in his first round. He could meet Gael Monfils in the second round, which will be a stern test for the Serbian, considering that one is returning from an injury and the other fresh off a title. Kokkinakis from Australia will have his first round against Danill Medvedev, another blockbuster first round encounter. Alexander Zverev also lurks in Djokovic’s half of the draw. Meanwhile, the struggling Tomas Berdych will take on the rising star Alex DeMinaur from Australia. Tomas Berdych has had a disappointing 2017, and is seeded 19 for the AO.

Juan Martin Del Potro will take on Frances Tiafoe in an enticing first round match up. Tiafoe as we all know took Federer all the way in the very first round of the US open last year. Sam Querrey takes on Feliciano Lopez in the very first round of the tournament. Meanwhile Federer, who is the hot favorite to win the title here, after a successful Hopman cup campaign, opens up his AO against Alijaz Bedene. The Swiss maestro has Richard Gasquet and Milos Raonic lurking in his draw. Federer could go on to have a potential quarterfinal against David Goffin, who stunned him at the ATP world tour finals in the latter part of 2017.

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