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James Duckworth vs Blaz Kavcic: 2015 Australian Open live scores, blog

19th January, 2015
Kick-off: 12:30pm AEDT
Venue: Melbourne Park - AO 15
Last meeting: Paris - Duckworth in 3 sets
Head 2 Head: 2-1 (Kavcic)
Betting: Kavcic 1.80 - Duckworth 1.97
James Duckworth takes on Jeremy Chardy at the Sydney International. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)
Roar Guru
19th January, 2015
79

It’s Men’s Singles action at the Australian Open on Day 1, as Aussie young gun James Duckworth opens his Melbourne Park campaign agaist Blaz Kavcic from the Czech Republic. Join The Roar from around 12:30pm AEDT for live scores and commentary on this contest.

After brilliant win in Brisbane against Gilles Simon and Jarko Nieminen, our Aussie might just be favourite coming into this match even if the bookies are against him. His form in Brisbane has guided him to a career best ranking of 119, yet a solid run in the Open would push him into the top 100.

The Aussie, at just 22 years of age, has a massive serve and looks to work from the baseline before coming into the net. This aggressive style of tennis should help him in his quest to conquest Kavcic, who has played his best tennis on clay where he can work the ball around with time and space, creating a mental battle against his opponents.

In their three previous meetings, Kavcic has had the better of Duckworth. However on their last occasion in Paris, Duckworth was successful.

Both men played each other here in the first round of the Australian Open in 2013, where Kavcic won a thriller five setter with the score 10-8 in the fifth set.

The man from Slovenia (like Duckworth) has played many challenger events recently to build both his confidence and his ranking away from the ATP Tour. So far in 2015 Kavcic made his way to the last 16 in Doha before retiring hurt in the first round in Sydney.

This match will be played on Court 6. However don’t be fooled by the time slot and the choice of arena, as this match promises to be very tight between two players desperate to make their mark on the ATP Tour.

Given their draws, the winner of this match could potentially cause more damage to come later in the tournament. A game to watch for sure.

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Prediction: Given his recent form and the home crowd advantage, I think Duckworth will come home in 4 sets.

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