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World No.1 Andy Murray will be out to finally break his Australian Open duck in 2017, but he starts his campaign with a potential danger match against the always hard working Illya Marchenko. Join The Roar for live scores of this first round match from around 2pm (AEDT) after the conclusion of Kateryna Kozlova vs Venus Williams.
After losing the final of the first grand slam in 2016, Murray bounced back to win on his home courts at Wimbledon and hasn’t looked back since, taking the top spot on the world rankings and not relinquishing it.
Murray went through the ATP tour finals undefeated as well, beating Novak Djokovic in a straight sets blitz during the final to claim the crown as the game’s best player.
While Murray looked good at his first tournament of the season in Doha, he fell to Djokovic in the final, losing 3-6, 7-5, 4-6. It might have been the wake-up call Murray needed ahead of the first grand slam of the year, but again it shouldn’t really effect his first round match.
Marchenko, on the other hand, sits inside the top 100 in the world and is under pressure to maintain that after some shocking form at the back end of last season and into the beginning of 2017.
The 29-year old Ukranian started his season in Doha and would have been keen to move through the rounds but simply didn’t going down to Ivo Karlovic in a display of poor serving and errors.
It didn’t get much better for Marchenko upon arrival in Australia, going down to wildcard winner Chris O’Connell in an embarrassing straight-sets defeat, only getting 43 per cent of first serves in and winning just 25 per cent of return points.
What makes it worse for Marchenko is that he is playing so far under his potential – For a player who generally enjoys playing on the hard court and made it to the fourth round of the 2016 US Open, his form has been abysmal.
The pair has faced off once previously, back in 2011 again at the Australian Open. In that second round match, Murray was extremely dominant, winning in straight sets. It counts for little though, with Marchenko much more experienced come 2017.
Prediction
Look, I love an upset as much as any other Aussie and to see Murray out in the first round would be bliss. But he is going to have a deep run in the Australian Open again, and he will kick it off in a dominant performance here.
Murray in straight sets – easy as you like.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this first round Australian Open match from around 2pm (AEDT) after the conclusion of Kateryna Kozlova vs Venus Williams and don’t forget to get involved by dropping a comment below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde