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17-year-old Jamiee Fourlis will face the biggest test of her short career in the second round of the Australian Open against eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Join The Roar for live scores of the match from 12:30pm (AEDT).
World no.414 Fourlis surprised many with her first round victory, the young Australian a big outsider to get her first ever grand slam victory in her first attempt.
Still, against Anna Tatishvili, who has recently worked her way into the top 200, it was a massive victory – the biggest of her career so far.
To do it in straight sets made it all the more impressive. Fourlis hit the ball well all game and used her serve as a real weapon, losing very few points off her first serves that were in.
That victory followed a loss at Brisbane in qualifying and a loss against Kirsten Flipkens in the first round of the WTA-only event in Hobart, so to turn it around with a win was a sign of good things to come for the Aussie.
On the other hand, Kuznetsova badly needed to make a statement about her form line in the first round after ordinary performances at both the Brisbane and Sydney Internationals.
The eighth seed for the Australian Open first bombed out of Brisbane in a straight-sets loss to 2016 French Open winner Garbine Muguruza before putting forward a shocking performance against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Sydney to bow out in straight sets once again.
After such a strong finish to 2016 that saw her crack the top ten for the first time, it was a disappointing start to the season, however only dropping a single game in the first round of the Open couldn’t have sent a stronger message.
Kuznetsova put the afterburners on to breeze past Mariana Duque-Marino 6-0, 6-1 and didn’t put a foot wrong in the match – something she will be looking to replicate here.
The pair have never faced off before this meeting and the winner will go on to play either Jelena Jankovic or Julia Georges in the third round.
Prediction
While Fourlis will receive one very important education here, she will be absolutely no match for Kuznetsova, whose experience and talent puts her in a class above.
Should be an easy victory for the eighth seed, but Fourlis has a big future ahead of her.
Kuznetsova in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this second round Australian open match from around 12:30pm (AEDT) or at the completion of Elina Svitolina vs Julia Boserup and don’t forget to add a comment if you’re following along.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde