Following uneventful third round match-ups at the Australian Open, Stan Wawrinka and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez will cross paths to determine who will advance to the quarter-final stage of the tournament. This is just the second time that these two competitors will meet on the tour, with the Spaniard leading the head-to-head series 1-0. In fact, Garcia-Lopez was the man who knocked Wawrinka out of last year’s French Open – can he repeat the feat this time around?

Watch the match here: Wawrinka v Garcia-Lopez Live

The defending champion continued his waltz through the draw in Melbourne with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over Jarkko Nieminen. She struck 55 winners, 9 aces, and 2on 90% of his first service points to close out the match with relative ease in 1 hour and 49 minutes.

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“I feel good. It was a really good match from me today. I was playing great. Tried to be more aggressive than normal. Did few mistake at the beginning. I was a little bit hesitating with my game. But in general I think was a strong match.”

While Vasek Pospisil was clearly hampered by some sort of injury, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez played a strong match to defeat the Canadian in straight sets and advance to the fourth round of the tournament. The Spaniard struck 18 winners, 3 aces and won 73% of his first service points to close out the match in 2 hours.

This is just the second time that Wawrinka and Garcia-Lopez will meet on the professional tour and could make for an exceptionally intriguing match-up. Garcia-Lopez leads the series 1-0 with a victory at last year’s French Open. He beat Wawrinka 6-4 5-7 6-2 6-0 to eliminate him in the opening round of the event. While he will now come up against an entirely different beast on hard court, he could be poised for an upset.

Prediction: Stan Wawrinka in Four Sets