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World no.1 Andy Murray will be more than confident about his chances of progressing to the third round of the Australian Open when he takes on qualifier Andrey Rublev. Join The Roar for live scores from around 8:30pm (AEDT).
Murray had a good run into the Australian Open and after claiming the world no.1 ranking at the back end of last year after a sensational victory at Wimbledon, he has been in the form of his life.
After a massive victory at the ATP world tour finals to close 2016, he went to the Qatar Open to open his season, not dropping a set until he beat Novak Djokovic in the final.
The win over Djokovic was as dominant as we have seen from Murray, his attacking game working in tandem with his amazing defence leading to a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 win.
After a week off, he took on the dangerous Illya Marchenko in the first round of the Open, recording a straight-sets win. However the match wasn’t without its drop offs, as he conceded 13 games across the match, including a second set tie-breaker.
Rublev, ranked at 152, played no events before the Australian Open, having to go through the qualification process just to make the main draw.
After finishing 2016 by making the final of a challenger event in France and looking to be in some relatively good form, the 19-year-old Russian came blazing out of the gates during the qualification rounds.
While it wasn’t as dominant as he perhaps may have liked, he only dropped two sets across the three days, defeating the more experienced Peter Polansky for a spot in the main draw over three sets.
He then took on Yen-Hsun Lu in the first round of the main draw, picking up a four-set win after losing the first, showing his coolness under pressure and taking out the final two sets in tie-breakers.
The pair have never played before this meeting and the winner will take on either Aussie young gun Alex De Minaur or big-serving 31st seed Sam Querrey in the third round.
Prediction
Murray would beat just about any player in the world on current form, and on his day could end this match very quickly. His brick wall-like defence is just going to be too much for the qualifier to overcome here.
Murray in a dominating straight-sets win.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of the match from around 8:30pm (AEDT) or at the completion of Samantha Crawford vs Garbine Muguruza on Rod Laver Arena and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde