By: Elena Scuro Photo Credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
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The first of the Australian Open’s men’s matches in the sweet sixteen take place today and, of the eight players, we’ll see three Grand Slam champions, a Grand Slam finalist and the hometown favorite trying to being a hometown hero.
Second seed Rafael Nadal will face 18th seed Feliciano Lopez in the second match on Rod Laver Arena. Nadal leads their head-to-head 8-2 and owns their meetings pretty comfortably, rarely being tested by his compatriot. Despite the fact that Lopez has made improvements to his game, his five-set win over John Isner could play into the fatigue factor while Rafa has had an easier route to the fourth round and will be the fresher of the two. Look for Rafa to take the win today.
The last match on Hisense Arena will be 7th seed Tomas Berdych against 10th seed Nicolas Almagro. The two have met six times before with Berdych leading their meetings 4-2, however it’s hard to judge this match-up based on that since five of their meetings have been on clay. Their only hard court match was in the round of sixteen in Cincinnati last year and Berdych won easily in two sets. The Czech has cruised into the fourth round and will likely do the same over Almagro today.
The last match on Margaret Court Arena will be Philipp Kohlschreiber against 11th seed Juan Martin Del Potro. The Argentine has dominated their hard court meetings but the last two, Indian Wells and Miami of last year, have included very close tie-break sets. Kohlschreiber had a test early on in the tournament going five sets with Argentina’s Juan Monaco, while Del Potro has advanced comfortably. The edge definitely goes to Del Potro who has all the right tools and could perhaps get some revenge for his friend Monaco’s loss in the first round. Thinking it’ll be Del Potro in four sets, but wouldn’t be surprised if this went the distance.
The first night match on Rod Laver Arena will be third seed and 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer against the crowd favorite Bernard Tomic. Federer has only played six sets in three matches the entire tournament (he benefited from a walkover from Andreas Beck in the second round) while Tomic has played 14 grueling and emotional sets. History doesn’t tell us much about how this match will play out - Federer leads their meetings 1-0 but the win was on grass in a Davis Cup playoff tie. Tomic holds the Swiss on a pedestal, saying “I looked up to him a lot. He was my idol. So to play him and have a feel for him in a match like this is good for me.” Federer has reached 30 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals so, despite the young Aussie having some big shots and the crowd behind him, it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to break Federer’s Slam streak.