Australian Open 2021: Jamie Murray on Melbourne life, quarantine & Football Manager
British doubles player Jamie Murray on Melbourne life, further concern about the Australian Open this week and his obsession with Football Manager.
British doubles player Jamie Murray on Melbourne life, further concern about the Australian Open this week and his obsession with Football Manager.
Rafael Nadal will begin his quest to win a record 21st Grand Slam championship title against Laslo Djere of Serbia at the Australian Open, which begins on Monday. Nadal, who picked up the 2009 trophy in Melbourne, has been drawn in the same half as Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will need to come through a minefield if he is to capture his ninth Australian Open crown, potentially needing to beat 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev and last year’s finalist Dominic Thiem en route to a 28th major championship title match.
Nadal, who equalled Roger Federer’s haul of 20 majors with a 13th Roland Garros crown in October last year, could face Italian Fabio Fognini in the fourth round. Fognini memorably beat Nadal in five sets in the 2015 US Open third round. Tsitsipas, who lost to Nadal in the 2019 semi-finals, or Matteo Berrettini are potential quarter-final opponents.
Nadal won his first hard-court major at the 2009 Australian Open, but despite adding four US Open titles since then, he has failed to add to his trophy haul at Melbourne Park. The 34-year-old has finished as runner-up on four occasions – in 2012 (l. to Djokovic), 2014 (l. to Wawrinka), 2017 (l. to Federer) and 2019 (l. to Djokovic). Should Nadal win this year’s tournament, he will join Rod Laver and Roy Emerson as the only players to have won all four majors at least twice. Nadal has a 65-14 record at the Melbourne major.
View Singles Draw At Official Website
Top seed Djokovic opens his campaign against France’s Jeremy Chardy, but may need to beat big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic or Wawrinka, who defeated Djokovic in the 2015 Roland Garros final and the 2016 US Open title match, in the Last 16. Wawrinka has won their past two matches, including at the 2019 US Open, when Djokovic retired when he was down two sets. The Serbian, who won the first of his eight Australian Open titles as a 20-year-old in 2008 and has a 75-8 match record at the tournament, could potentially reunite with Zverev in the quarter-finals, so soon after their epic singles and doubles group stage clashes at the 2021 ATP Cup on Friday.
Third seed Thiem, who beat three Top 10 players including Gael Monfils, Nadal and Zverev, en route to his third Grand Slam championship final last year, will attempt to get his title bid off to a strong start when he plays Mikhail Kukushkin in the first round. Last year’s US Open titlist has been drawn in the same quarter as eighth-seeded Argentinean Diego Schwartzman, No. 11 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada and No. 18 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
Fourth seed Medvedev starts with a tricky test against Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, and if the Russian is to improve upon two consecutive fourth round showings (2019-2020), he may need to overcome No. 13 seed David Goffin in the fourth round. His compatriot and seventh seed Andrey Rublev, who captured five ATP Tour titles and recorded 41 match wins in a standout 2020 season, could stand in his way in the quarter-finals. Rublev takes on Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in the first round, with No. 12 seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain a potential fourth-round opponent.
There will be some outstanding first-round clashes, including Shapovalov challenging 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Jannik Sinner for the first time. Ninth-seeded Italian Berrettini meets former World No. 4 Kevin Anderson, Dimitrov tackles 2018 finalist Marin Cilic of Croatia and Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta takes on Japan’s Kei Nishikori in other eye-catching opening matches.
In 2019, the Australian Open began to feature deciding set tie-breaks at 6-6, with the first player to score 10 points – and leading by two points – winning the match. The men’s draw will also continue to implement its heat policy, with the potential for a 10-minute break for the heat after the third set. Main draw play will get underway on 8 February.
Borna Coric spoiled Nick Kyrgios’ return tournament on Friday at the Murray River Open.
The Croatian was too solid for the Aussie, defeating the 13th seed 6-3, 6-4 in 65 minutes to reach the quarter-finals. This was Kyrgios’ first event since Acapulco last February.
Coric dominated on his own serve, winning 82 per cent of his service points to take a 3-2 lead in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series. The fourth seed hit more aces than one of the biggest servers on the ATP Tour by an 11-9 margin, and he did not face a break point.
[WATCH LIVE 3]The World No. 25 will next play eighth seed Daniel Evans or American Marcos Giron. Coric is pursuing his first title since 2018 Halle and his third tour-level trophy overall.
Kyrgios beat Alexandre Muller and Harry Bourchier to reach the third round at his first event in more than 11 months.
“The conditions were so tough for me. I was struggling to find any rhythm. I served bad. I don’t expect anything less from him,” Kyrgios said of Coric. “He’s a great player. That’s why he’s an unbelievable player, he brings that consistency every day.”
Frenchman Jeremy Chardy also advanced just before the rain began falling at Melbourne Park. The World No. 66 defeated sixth seed Taylor Fritz 6-2, 6-4 in 67 minutes. The American had won their only previous clash at 2016 Acapulco.
Chardy will play top seed Stan Wawrinka or home favourite Alex Bolt for a spot in the semi-finals. All third-round winners are scheduled to play their quarter-final later in the day on Friday, but heavy rain could force a late finish to get all the matches in.
There was a battle of big bangers on Court 5 at Melbourne Park Friday, but only one was able to advance.
Second seed Karen Khachanov battled past former World No. 5 Kevin Anderson 6-3, 7-6(5) to reach the quarter-finals of the Great Ocean Road Open.
Khachanov won 82 per cent of his first-serve points and saved all five break points he faced to advance after one hour and 38 minutes. There was only one service break in the match, and that came against the 6’8″ Anderson in the first set.
The South African had won the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head meeting at the Miami Open presented by Itau in 2018. At that point, Anderson was entrenched in the Top 10, and Khachanov was fresh off his appearance at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017.
[WATCH LIVE 2]Khachanov lost three of his final four matches of the 2020 season, but he is off to a quick start in 2021, claiming both of his victories in the Great Ocean Road Open in straight sets. Anderson is currently World No. 82, and he is battling back into form after struggling with injuries over the past two seasons.
Khachanov will play Botic Van de Zandschulp for a spot in the semi-finals. The Dutchman upset big-serving American Reilly Opelka, the sixth seed, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) after one hour and 46 minutes.
Van de Zandschulp, the World No. 159, began the week with zero tour-level wins. Now the 25-year-old has three, and he has only lost one set. The unseeded player won 92 per cent of his first-serve points, dropping only four points behind his first delivery.
Did You Know?
All third-round singles winners on Friday at Melbourne Park will play their quarter-final match later in the day.
Pablo Carreno Busta guaranteed Spain’s spot in the ATP Cup semi-finals on Friday with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Greece’s Michail Pervolarakis.
World No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who led Spain to last year’s championship match against Serbia, has not yet competed in this edition due to a stiff lower back. But Spain has battled on with two of the Top 20 players in the FedEx ATP Rankings: World No. 16 Carreno Busta and World No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut, who will face 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in this tie’s No. 1 singles match.
“I knew that we needed this point. With this victory, we are into the semi-finals, so it was very important to us,” Carreno Busta said in his on-court interview. “I tried to be focussed on myself, to try to play my [best] game].”
Carreno Busta has stepped up well for his country, winning both of his singles matches — he also defeated Australian John Millman on Tuesday — in straight sets. The Spaniard broke in his first return game of the match, and he never looked back.
The 29-year-old Carreno Busta made few mistakes from the baseline, forcing Pervolarakis to play outside of his comfort zone and go for too much. The World No. 462 battled hard to hang in there despite losing the first five games of the match, even eliciting a round of applause from Nadal after he won his first game. But the Greek was unable to consistently go blow for blow with the four-time ATP Tour titlist in longer rallies.
Carreno Busta maintained his steady level throughout to triumph after 70 minutes. The former World No. 10 has only lost 13 games in four sets.
“At the beginning of the match, I think it was perfect. I played really good,” Carreno Busta said. “Then he started to play better, to play more aggressive and I tried to continue. Finally 6-3, 6-4 I won and I’m happy.”
[WATCH LIVE 1]Pervolarakis was pursuing the first ATP Tour win of his career. The Greek had to defeat Carreno Busta to give his country a chance at advancing to the semi-finals.
Tsitsipas and Bautista Agut have clashed once before, in the 2019 Australian Open quarter-finals. The Greek triumphed in four sets to become the youngest Grand Slam semi-finalist since a 20-year-old Novak Djokovic at the 2007 US Open.
Andy Murray travels to Italy and will make his return in qualifying for an ATP Challenger tournament.
Tony Trabert, who saw the sport from all angles as a major champion and ambassador both on and off the court, has passed away aged 90. His record of 106 match wins and 18 titles in the 1955 season remains one of the greatest single seasons in tennis history.
The universally popular American enriched tennis for more than 70 years as the world’s top amateur player, a contract pro, a manager of Jack Kramer’s troupe and executive director of a fledgling players association, which helped push for Open tennis. His insight for more than 30 years as a highly successful television commentator and analyst, helped to drive the sport’s boom and brought the US Open and other major championships to new audiences. He was also a two-time Davis Cup winning captain of the United States, a coach, an author and later served as the President of the International Tennis Hall of Fame before his health and mobility began to suffer.
International Tennis Hall of Fame President Stan Smith, who succeeded Trabert in that role and was on two US Davis Cup teams captained by Trabert commented, “I had big shoes to fill coming into this role after Tony, but that is exactly the example that Tony’s life in tennis was in all areas. He didn’t just show us all how to be a great champion. He was also a role model as a wise coach and mentor, a fair and effective leader, someone who gave back to the sport, and an all-around terrific ambassador for tennis. He was a good friend to me and to so many and he will be greatly missed.”
“The world knew Tony for his excellence in tennis, from his remarkable career to his Davis Cup success as a player and captain to being the voice of the US Open during his decades with CBS Sports,” said Western & Southern Open Tournament Director J. Wayne Richmond. “Tony’s impact went far beyond the court, in particular to those who knew him closely. He was so proud of his Cincinnati roots and was always a loyal supporter of the tournament here.
“Tony also worked very hard to promote the game, developing junior players at summer camps and honoring the great history of the sport during his tenure as president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Above all else, Tony was wonderful friend and an incredibly loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He will be dearly missed.”
The ITHF mourns the loss and celebrates the life of Hall of Famer and past President Tony Trabert.
Tony’s life in tennis covered every stage, and he will be remembered for his character and kindness in every endeavor. Our thoughts are with his family and many friends. pic.twitter.com/8DhV2onOqN
— Tennis Hall of Fame (@TennisHalloFame) February 4, 2021
Trabert, the son of a sports mad sales engineer with General Electric, grew up in Bond Hill, two houses down from a Cincinnati park that had clay courts, and started playing tennis aged six with his older brothers, Marc and Douglas. It wasn’t long until he came under the guidance of Carmago Club pro Earl Bossang, who gave Trabert his first tennis racquet, and Cincinnati Tennis Club pro Howard Zaeh. Both taught Trabert the fundamentals: good groundstrokes, the volley and an all-court game. His backhand, backhand volley and overhead would become his best shots.
Already a winner of local junior tournaments, 12-year-old Trabert came under the wing of another Cincinnati native, Bill Talbert, during the peak years of his own illustrious career, who offered volleying advice at the 1942 Tri-State Tennis Championships. At this time, Trabert was a big Cincinnati Reds fan and felt he was better at baseball. Talbert, who went on to become an NBC Sports commentator and a future US Open Tournament Director, once said of the youngster, “[Trabert] was interested, hard-working and eager to improve. He was obviously a fine athlete with a natural ball sense, hampered by only being a bit slow on his feet. I could see in him a duplicate of myself at the same age — an intense desire to be a good player and a willingness to spend the long hours required to make the grade.”
He excelled at every sport at Walnut Hills High School, but gradually limited himself to basketball, which he mainly played to sharpen up his footwork for tennis. In 1948, Trabert and his father, Arch, a former amateur boxer, attended the Bobby Riggs and Kramer pro tour match in a Cincinnati high school gym and spoke to both players in the locker room. Quick to pick up technical changes, he became the US National Indoors singles and doubles champion that year.
Trabert became the first player in history to win three consecutive Ohio singles championships. He was offered scholarships at leading West Coast universities, but decided to stay at home, enrolling at the University of Cincinnati, where he studied political science. Trabert won the 1951 NCAA Singles Championship and started as a guard for the Bearcats basketball team, which won the Mid-American Conference championship and played in the National Invitation Tournament. By continually working on his movement and fitness, he kept at a playing weight of 185lbs.
Trabert made his first big impact in 1950, when, as a 19-year-old, he beat Ted Schroeder in the Western Championships and finished the year ranked No. 12 in the United States. On his first all-expenses-paid trip to Europe in 1950 with Talbert, they won every doubles tournament they contested, including the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome and Roland Garros, beating Jaroslav Drobny and Eric Sturgess in the Paris final. Trabert played the Big Game of serve and volley, using a Wilson Jack Kramer Autograph racquet between 1949 and 1956, striking clean and hard service returns that resulted in spectacular passing strokes. His first serve was powerful and he struck his second serve with excess spin. He hit topspin on his backhand, but Trabert’s mind was his greatest asset.
The follow year, he rose to No. 3 nationally, but in September 1951, just as he was about to start his third year at the University of Cincinnati, he was drafted for a near two-year stint in the U.S. Navy that limited his tennis playing time. Reporting initially to Bainbridge, Maryland, he served as a seaman apprentice on the bridge for air defence, then in the quartermaster division and navigation on the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean during the Korean War. Immediately after leaving service in June 1953, Trabert met Shauna Wood (1930-2019) while playing the National Hard Court Championships in Salt Lake City, two months before he captured his first major singles championship title at the U.S. Nationals in Forest Hills (d. Vic Seixas). Wood, a University of Utah graduate, had just been named Miss Utah and became a contestant in the 1953 Miss Universe Pageant. They were married on 26 October 1953 at the Salt Lake City Country Club, before going on a week-long honeymoon in Hawaii and then onto Australia with the U.S. Davis Cup squad.
Photo courtesy: International Tennis Hall of Fame
Trabert’s motto as a player was, “You’re not safe until you get in the locker room.” He won five major singles championships in a three-year period between 1953 and 1955. He captured two Roland Garros crowns in 1954 (d. Art Larsen) and 1955 (d. Sven Davidson) and remained the last American male champion in Paris until 17-year-old Michael Chang lifted the trophy in 1989. Having developed blisters on his feet and right hand in a five-set fourth-round victory over Davidson en route to the 1954 Wimbledon semi-finals, Trabert was determined to capture The Championships crown the following year. He beat Kurt Nielsen 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 in the Wimbledon final and went on to defeat Ken Rosewall 9-7, 6-3, 6-3 in the U.S. Nationals final at Forest Hills — completing the title double without losing a set.
In 1955, 25-year-old Trabert produced one of the best seasons in tennis history, compiling a staggering 106-7 match record, including a 38-match winning streak, 18 titles, including 10 straight tournament wins, and three of the four major championships. He lost to Rosewall in the Australian Open semi-finals. To date, he is one of seven men to win three major titles in a single season. Only Don Budge (1938), Rod Laver (1962, 1969), Mats Wilander (1988), Roger Federer (2004, 2006, 2007), Rafael Nadal (2010) and Novak Djokovic (2011, 2015) have accomplished the same feat.
Having conquered the amateur circuit in 1955, Trabert looked to settle down with his family as West Coast salesman for Security Banknote Co. Later that year, Kramer offered Trabert a guarantee of $75,000 against a percentage of the gate to play on his pro tour. Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall also signed contracts, but they were talked out of turning pro when they returned to Australia. Trabert toured for 14 straight months all over the world with Richard Pancho Gonzales and in one five-month stretch in North America the pair met on 101 occasions. Gonzales’ serve did the damage, winning the series 74-27 on mostly indoor, portable canvas surfaces, which would move slightly when you set off to chase down a ball. Playing five matches per week, Trabert took home $125,000 in the first year, a far cry from the £10 certificate redeemable at Lilly White’s Sporting Goods story in London after his Wimbledon triumph. At the time bread was a nickel (five cents) and car petrol a dime (10 cents). He won the 1956 and 1959 French Pro titles, beating Gonzales and Frank Sedgman respectively.
While Trabert continued to play on the pro circuit, he took up Kramer’s offer in 1960 and moved to Paris to organise pro tour matches and tournaments in Europe, Africa and Asia. He signed 1962 Grand Slam champion Rod Laver to a pro contract and later helped Rene Lacoste develop what became the Wilson T2000 steel design racquet — used by Billie Jean King, Clark Graebner and Jimmy Connor — and promoted the Lacoste ‘alligator’ logo shirts. Trabert lived in France with his wife, who worked as a top model for Chanel, and their two young children, Mike (born 1956) and Brooke (born 1958), for three years before he stepped into playing retirement by returning to the United States. In 1962, Trabert also became the first executive director of the Independent Tennis Players’ Association (a forerunner of the Association of Tennis Professionals) and continued to push for Open tennis.
Trabert, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1970, opened up his highly successful ‘Trabert Tennis Camps’ in California for children aged 8-18 in 1971. It was the same year he contacted CBS about how he felt the broadcaster was covering tennis. Trabert launched his broadcasting career from an initial two-day taped commentary recorded at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. Renowned for preparing 10 times as many notes as he used, Trabert told fans what they didn’t see and what tactics the players used in a CBS Sports role that spanned 33 years until his retirement in 2004. He mastered the post-final interview at the US Open and worked alongside former American football player Pat Summerall for 25 years. In witnessing the evolution of the game and technology, he also commentated for Australia’s Channel 9 for 23 years alongside Fred Stolle and John Newcombe, and published the 1988 book, ‘Trabert on Tennis: The View From Center Court’.
Photo courtesy: International Tennis Hall of Fame
Trabert, an easy speaker with the manner of a diplomat, was honoured to captain the United States Davis Cup between 1976 and 1980, bringing a young John McEnroe into the fold. The nation lifted the trophy in 1978 (d. Great Britain) and 1979 (d. Italy). In the 1970s, Trabert also coached Kathy May, a future World No. 10 and Taylor Fritz’s mother, until she retired aged 24. While covering a golf tournament in Ponte Vedra Beach in 1982, Trabert met his second wife, Vicki, who worked was a real estate agent at the time, and settled in Florida, just minutes from ATP’s American headquarters.
After more than 50 years as one of the sport’s greatest ambassadors, Trabert was named President of the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 2001. Over the next 10 years, he also chaired the induction and selection committees, meeting with the 21-person panel each year at Wimbledon. In early 2014, he underwent heart surgery, and while Trabert was unable to play golf or tennis due to a bad right shoulder in recent years, he continued to marvel at the great champions and the depth of the sport.
Trabert passed away on Wednesday evening at his family home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, surrounded by his second wife of almost 40 years, and his two children, Mike and Brooke.
Marion Anthony Trabert, tennis player, coach, captain, author and sports commentator, born 16 August 1930; died 3 February 2021.
Sixteen players remain in the hunt for the Great Ocean Road Open singles trophy. By the end of play on Friday, only four will remain.
Following the suspension of play on Thursday, both the third round and the quarter-finals of the singles draw will take place at Melbourne Park on Friday.
Six of the top eight seeds are still standing at the Great Ocean Road Open, including second seed Karen Khachanov. The Russian, chasing his fifth ATP Tour crown, will meet Kevin Anderson in one of the standout matches of the day at the ATP 250.
Khachanov and Anderson both recorded their first victories of the year on Wednesday. Second seed Khachanov overcame Aussie wild card Max Purcell 7-6(5), 6-3, while Anderson charged past Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-4, 6-2 in 57 minutes.
[WATCH LIVE 2]Anderson won his only previous ATP Head2Head clash against Khachanov in three sets at the 2018 Miami Open presented by Itau. The winner of the pair’s second encounter will face sixth seed Reilly Opelka or Botic Van de Zandschulp later in the day.
Third seed Hubert Hurkacz will continue his pursuit of a second ATP Tour trophy of 2021 on Friday. The Delray Beach champion will meet Pablo Cuevas in the third round. Antalya runner-up Alexander Bublik or Stefano Travaglia awaits the winner in the quarter-finals.
In the top quarter of the draw, #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz will attempt to reach his maiden ATP Tour semi-final. The 17-year-old, who defeated top seed David Goffin in the second round, will meet Thiago Monteiro for a place in the quarter-finals. If Alcaraz can get through that match, he will face 11th seed Jordan Thompson or Mario Vilella Martinez for a place in the last four.
Fourth seed Jannik Sinner will continue his title bid against Aljaz Bedene. Both men will be attempting to book a quarter-final clash againt seventh seed Miomir Kecmanovic or Salvatore Caruso.
Doubles Second Round To Be Completed Friday
The six remaining doubles second-round matches will also feature on Friday’s schedule at the Great Ocean Road Open. Top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah will begin their 2021 campaign against Purcell and Thompson.
Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek will make their first appearance since their run to the Antalya Open final last month (l. to Mektic/Pavic). The third seeds will face alternates Roberto Carballes Baena and Cuevas for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Fifth seeds Marcus Daniell/Michael Venus, sixth seeds Marcelo Arevalo/Matwe Middelkoop, seventh seeds Luke Bambridge/Dominic Inglot and eighth seeds Bublik/Andrey Golubev will also make their first appearances at the ATP 250 on Friday.
View Schedule – Friday, 5 February 2021
1573 ARENA start 10:30 am
Third Round – [11] J. Thompson (AUS) vs M. Vilella Martinez (ESP)
COURT 3 start 11:00 am
Two WTA Matches
ATP Singles Match Murray River Open
Quarter-finals – [6] R. Opelka (USA) or B. Van de Zandschulp (NED) vs K. Anderson (RSA) or [2] K. Khachanov (RUS)
COURT 5 start 10:30 am
Third Round – K. Anderson (RSA) vs [2] K. Khachanov (RUS)
Not Before 12:00 noon
ATP Singles Match Murray River Open
Second Round – M. Ebden (AUS) / J. Smith (AUS) vs [7] L. Bambridge (GBR) / D. Inglot (GBR)
Not Before 3:00 pm
Second Round – After Suitable Rest – [Alt] R. Carballes Baena (ESP) / P. Cuevas (URU) vs [3] I. Dodig (CRO) / F. Polasek (SVK)
COURT 6 start 10:30 am
Third Round – [13] A. Bedene (SLO) vs [4] J. Sinner (ITA)
Not Before 12:00 noon
ATP Singles Match Murray River Open
Quarter-finals – After Suitable Rest – C. Alcaraz (ESP) or T. Monteiro (BRA) vs [11] J. Thompson (AUS) or M. Vilella Martinez (ESP)
ATP Singles Match Murray River Open
Not Before 3:00 pm
Second Round – [8] A. Bublik (KAZ) / A. Golubev (KAZ) vs M. Kecmanovic (SRB) / K. Khachanov (RUS)
COURT 10 start 10:30 am
Third Round – C. Alcaraz (ESP) vs T. Monteiro (BRA)
Not Before 12:00 noon
Third Round – [3] H. Hurkacz (POL) vs P. Cuevas (URU)
Second Round – [5] M. Daniell (NZL) / M. Venus (NZL) vs F. Delbonis (ARG) / A. Sitak (NZL)
Quarter-finals – After Suitable Rest – [7] M. Kecmanovic (SRB) or S. Caruso (ITA) vs [13] A. Bedene (SLO) or [4] J. Sinner (ITA)
COURT 12 start 10:30 am
Third Round – [7] M. Kecmanovic (SRB) vs S. Caruso (ITA)
Not Before 12:00 noon
ATP Singles Match Murray River Open
Second Round – [WC] R. Haase (NED) / S. Querrey (USA) vs [6] M. Arevalo (ESA) / M. Middelkoop (NED)
ATP Doubles Match Murray River Open
Not Before 3:00 pm
Second Round – [1] J. Cabal (COL) / R. Farah (COL) vs M. Purcell (AUS) / J. Thompson (AUS)
COURT 14 start 10:30 am
Third Round – [6] R. Opelka (USA) vs B. Van de Zandschulp (NED)
COURT 15 start 10:30 am
Third Round – S. Travaglia (ITA) vs [8] A. Bublik (KAZ)
Not Before 12:00 noon
ATP Singles Match Murray River Open
Quarter-finals – After Suitable Rest – [3] H. Hurkacz (POL) or P. Cuevas (URU) vs S. Travaglia (ITA) or [8] A. Bublik (KAZ)
Stan Wawrinka, Grigor Dimitrov, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Nick Kyrgios will all need to record two match wins on Friday if are to remain in contention for the Murray River Open title. In another busy day at Melbourne Park, 12 singles and four doubles matches will be contested as the ATP 250 tournament plays catch-up.
Wawrinka, who has won seven of his 16 tour-level titles as a top seed, will first look to overcome Australia’s Alex Bolt on Friday, before a potential quarter-final clash on 1573 Arena against Jeremy Chardy of France or sixth-seeded American Taylor Fritz. The 35-year-old Wawrinka went 15-8 last season.
Second seed Dimitrov, one place behind Wawrinka at No. 19 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, meets Alexei Popyrin first match on Court 3. The winner will play James Duckworth or France’s Corentin Moutet in the last eight on Court 6. Dimitrov beat Kei Nishikori for the 2017 Brisbane crown.
World No. 21 Auger-Aliassime, who hit 12 aces past Yuichi Sugita in his opening win on Wednesday, challenges Egor Gerasimov of Belarus in the first match on Court 12, before a possible clash against Czech Jiri Vesely or Ricardas Berankis. Last year, Auger-Aliassime compiled a 23-19 match record and finished runner-up at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (l. to Monfils), the Open 13 Provence in Marseille (l. to Tsitsipas) and the bett1HULKS Indoors in Cologne (l. to Zverev).
Nick Kyrgios, who is competing this week for the first time in 12 months (since 2020 Acapulco), looks to overcome fourth-seeded Croatian Borna Coric first on 1573 Arena. The winner will return later in the day to face American Marcos Giron or eighth seed Daniel Evans of Great Britain. Kyrgios beat Alexandre Muller in three sets in his first match and saved two set points in the second set against fellow Australian Harry Bourchier in the second round.
View Schedule – Friday, 5 February 2021
1573 ARENA Not Before 12:00 noon
Third Round – [4] B. Coric (CRO) vs [13] N. Kyrgios (AUS)
Third Round – [1] S. Wawrinka (SUI) vs A. Bolt (AUS)
Quarter-finals – After Suitable Rest – [4] B. Coric (CRO) or [13] N. Kyrgios (AUS) vs M. Giron (USA) or [8] D. Evans (GBR)
Quarter-finals – After Suitable Rest – [1] S. Wawrinka (SUI) or A. Bolt (AUS) vs J. Chardy (FRA) or [6] T. Fritz (USA)
COURT 3 start 11:00 am
Two WTA Matches followed by
Third Round – A. Popyrin (AUS) vs [2] G. Dimitrov (BUL)
COURT 5 Not Before 12:00 noon
Third Round – J. Chardy (FRA) vs [6] T. Fritz (USA)
COURT 6 Not Before 12:00 noon
Third Round – J. Duckworth (AUS) vs C. Moutet (FRA)
ATP Singles Match Great Ocean Road Open
Quarter-finals – After Suitable Rest – J. Duckworth (AUS) or C. Moutet (FRA) vs A. Popyrin (AUS) or [2] G. Dimitrov (BUL)
COURT 12 Not Before 12:00 noon
Third Round – E. Gerasimov (BLR) vs [3] F. Auger-Aliassime (CAN)
ATP Doubles Match Great Ocean Road Open
Second Round – [4] M. Melo (BRA) / H. Tecau (ROU) vs N. Monroe (USA) / F. Tiafoe (USA)
ATP Doubles Match Great Ocean Road Open NB 3:00PM
Second Round – After Suitable Rest – [5] J. Chardy (FRA) / F. Martin (FRA) vs D. Sharan (IND) / I. Zelenay (SVK)
COURT 14 Not Before 12:00 noon
Third Round – J. Vesely (CZE) vs R. Berankis (LTU)
Second Round – C. Norrie (GBR) / J. O’Mara (GBR) vs [3] R. Ram (USA) / J. Salisbury (GBR)
Quarter-finals – After Suitable Rest – J. Vesely (CZE) or R. Berankis (LTU) vs E. Gerasimov (BLR) or [3] F. Auger-Aliassime (CAN)
Second Round – R. Albot (MDA) / E. Gerasimov (BLR) vs [2] W. Koolhof (NED) / L. Kubot (POL)
COURT 15 Not Before 12:00 noon
Third Round – M. Giron (USA) vs [8] D. Evans (GBR)
Australian Open boss Craig Tiley says he is “absolutely confident” the Grand Slam will start as planned on Monday.
