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Gilles Simon faces a tough third-round battle at the Australian Open when he takes on the world No.3 Milos Raonic. Join The Roar for live scores from around 6pm (AEDT).
Starting his season at the Brisbane International, Simon was bundled out in the first round by Lucas Pouille in a worrying sign of things to come.
The Frenchman then went to Kooyong, where he was knocked out of the main draw by Ivo Karlovic, before beating Bernard Tomic in a one-set exhibition.
Simon has further worked himself into form with a ridiculously easy draw over the first two rounds of the Open, beating both Michael Mmoh and Rogerio Dutra Silva in straight sets, only dropping 13 games across the six sets of tennis.
Raonic, with his thundering serve, came to the Brisbane International as defending champion, but was on his bike after the semi-final, losing to eventual champion Grigor Dimitrov.
The Canadian was next seen in a first-round meeting at the Open against Dustin Brown, Raonic taking the match in straight sets, serving up plenty of aces.
The third seed faced Gilles Muller in the second round, but got the job done, again in straight sets.
This pair have met on four occasions, the most recent being on grass in the lead up to Wimbledon 2015, when Simon took his only win between the pair, in three sets.
Their only meeting on hard court, one of Raonic’s two preferred surfaces, saw the Canadian take a bruising straight-sets win in Tokyo during 2014.
The winner will face either Roberto Bautista Agut or David Ferrer in the fourth round.
Prediction
Raonic will use his powerful serve and big groundstrokes to win here. Simon doesn’t stand much of a chance, but might pinch a set.
Raonic in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of the match from around 6pm (AEDT), or at the completion of Casey Dellacqua and Ashleigh Barty vs Martina Hingis and Coco Vandeweghe on Hisense Arena, and don’t forget to drop a comment below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde