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Young gun Alex De Minaur will be out to cause another upset in the Australian Open when he takes on big-serving 31st seed Sam Querrey in the second round. Join The Roar for live scores from around 4pm (AEDT).
De Minaur got the biggest win of his short career during the first round, coming back from two sets to one down and taking an incredible victory over Gerard Melzer.
The young Aussie had only made his ATP main tour debut in the weeks prior, qualifying for Brisbane before being knocked out in the first round and then grabbing a huge win over Benoit Paire in the first round at Sydney.
Based on that win, there was no reason De Minaur wasn’t going to be able to get the better of Melzer, but after retiring in the second round of Sydney, his fitness was a question.
It was answered in emphatic style, though, with De Minaur holding the concentration to win a fourth set tie-breaker and then going on to take the fifth set 6-1.
De Minaur showed throughout the game his big serve can come to the rescue, and he won plenty of points off it, but something he will need to find a way to continue is winning points off serve – and that’s easier said than done against Querrey.
The 31st seed from the United States is most well-known as the man who knocked over Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year.
That was a victory that stunned the tennis world, and the form that followed for Querrey catapulted him up the rankings to where he finds himself now – with a seeding at the first grand slam of 2017.
What would be a worry for the Querrey camp, though, is how his big serve abandoned him at the end of last year and he went on a massive losing run, to the point where he had taken just one victory from his past nine matches before the Open.
A first-round loss in Brisbane against Diego Schwartzman was never going to be good for his confidence, but he didn’t let it bother him as he knocked off Quentin Halys in the first round of the Open.
The pair have never played before this meeting and the winner will go on to play either Andy Murray or Andre Rublev in the third round.
Prediction
De Minaur will fight hard here, but he is going to have a real problem breaking the serve of Querrey. Getting sets to tie-breakers may be his best chance, but it’s difficult to justify tipping him for the win.
Querrey in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this second round match at the Australian Open from around 4pm (AEDT) or at the completion of the Williams sisters’ doubles match on Show Court 2 and don’t forget to add a comment below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde