Andy Murray could have a tricky path to becoming the last man standing in Melbourne, while Novak Djokovic has an equally treacherous road in pursuit of a seventh Australian Open crown. 

Top seed Murray opens up his quest for his first Australian Open title against Illya Marchenko, with the Brit winning their lone meeting at the 2011 edition of this tournament. Looking ahead, Murray could face No. 16 seed Lucas Pouille in the fourth round and either No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori or No. 17 seed Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.

Second seed Djokovic was given a very tricky first-round against veteran Fernando Verdasco. The Serbian leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 9-4, including a third-round victory in the 2015 edition of this tournament. However, he was forced to save five match points in prevailing over Verdasco earlier this month in the semi-finals in Doha. The Spaniard is also more than capable of upsetting big names in early rounds, as evidenced by his first-round win last year in Melbourne over Rafael Nadal.

Should Djokovic advance, he could play No. 15 seed and recent Brisbane champion Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round, followed by eighth seed Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals.

Federer was given a comparatively kind opener in his first sanctioned tournament since Wimbledon, with the Swiss maestro guaranteed to play a qualifier in his first two rounds. His path gets significantly harder afterwards, though, with potential matches against No. 10 seed Tomas Berdych in the third round, Nishikori in the fourth round and Murray in the quarter-finals.

Ninth seed Nadal starts out his campaign Down Under against Florian Mayer. A mouth-watering third-round clash against No. 24 seed and #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev looms ahead, while an equally entertaining fourth-round clash against sixth seed Gael Monfils is also on the cards.

Third seed Milos Raonic will need to be on his game from the first ball when he plays the always-flashy Dustin Brown in his first match. No. 13 seed and recent Chennai champion Roberto Bautista Agut is a likely fourth-round matchup, followed by a potential quarter-final clash against Monfils.

Fourth seed Stan Wawrinka kicks off his search for a second Australian Open crown against Martin Klizan. The 2014 champion is on course to face No. 14 seed Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round and seventh seed Marin Cilic in the last eight.

Another notable first-round match includes the return of former World No. 2 Tommy Haas, who will square off against Benoit Paire. The German is competing in his first tournament since Vienna in October 2015.

Wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis withdrew from the men’s singles draw due to injury. His spot will be filled by a lucky loser from the qualifying draw. 

American Steve Johnson upset countryman and friend John Isner 6-3, 4-7, 7-6(3) in two hours and 14 minutes on Thursday for a place in the ASB Classic semi-finals. Johnson won 85 per cent of his first-serve points and overcame 19 Isner aces.

Isner netted a forehand volley to bring up three match points for Johnson in the third-set tie-break. He’d need only one, though, as he hit a forehand net-cord winner on the next point.

Johnson, the seventh seed, will meet fourth-seeded American and last year’s finalist Jack Sock, who converted four of his 25 break point opportunities to beat Jeremy Chardy of France 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 10 minutes. Sock hit 12 aces to Chardy’s 14 aces.

Joao Sousa saved both break points to reach his first Auckland semi-final after he defeated Dutchmen Robin Haase 6-3, 6-2 in 57 minutes.

The Portugal native now challenges eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis, who struck 12 aces to overcome 2015 champion Jiri Vesely 6-2, 6-4 in 70 minutes. This week, Baghdatis is bidding to win his first ATP World Tour trophy since the 2010 Apia International Sydney.

DOUBLES: Fourth seeds Marcin Matkowski and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi saved one match point at 8/9 in the Match tie-break to beat Santiago Gonzalez and David Marrero 6-4, 3-6, 11-9 for a place in the semi-finals. Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak also saved one match point at 8/9 in the Match tie-break of their 3-6, 7-6(5), 11-9 victory over Facundo Bagnis and Diego Schwartzman.

World No. 67 Daniel Evans recorded the biggest win of his career on Thursday at the Apia International Sydney for a place in his second ATP World Tour semi-final (2014 Zagreb).

The 26-year-old Briton notched his first victory over a player in the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings (1-4 lifetime) after beating No. 8-ranked Dominic Thiem, the top seed, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in two hours and two minutes.

Evans goes on to play World No. 48 Andrey Kuznetsov, who broke a 10-match losing streak in ATP World Tour quarter-final in defeating fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Carreno Busta beat Kuznetsov last year in the Winston-Salem Open quarter-finals en route to his first tour-level trophy.

Sixth seed Gilles Muller advanced to the semi-finals for the third consecutive time. The Luxembourg native beat second seed Pablo Cuevas 7-6(5), 6-4. As is often the case, the left-handed Muller dominated with his serve, hitting 17 aces and taking 77 per cent of his first-serve points. He’ll face third seed and two-time defending champion Viktor Troicki in the semi-finals on Friday.

“(Troicki) hasn’t lost a match in Sydney in, like, forever,” said Muller. “He beat me in the semis two years ago. I know he’s a great player – he’s up there for a long time and it’s going to be a tough match. For me it’s the third year in a row for the semi-finals so I’d also like to get one stage further. I think I’d more happy with that than ending his winning streak.”

Troicki advanced when German Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew because of a back injury. The Serbian has a 15-3 record in Sydney and has won 10 consecutive main-draw matches in a row.

DOUBLES: Top seeds and defending champions Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares reached the semi-finals with ease, dismissing Germans Florian Mayer and Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-4 in 56 minutes. Later in the day, Dutchmen Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop saved two match points from a 7/9 deficit in the Match tie-break to defeat fourth seeds and 2015 finalists Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 7-6(4), 2-6, 11-9 in one hour and 37 minutes.