Stan Wawrinka will be out to make a statement about his inconsistent form line when he takes on world no.89 Andreas Seppi who won’t go down without a real fight in the fourth round of the Australian Open. Join The Roar for live scores of the match from around 2:30pm (AEDT).
After a less than dominant lead-up to the Australian Open, Wawrinka hasn’t exactly impressed over the first three rounds, struggling to leave a mark on the tournament.
While the good news for the Swiss superstar is that he does generally get better in the second week of grand slam tournaments, he needs to be near his best today.
After being taken all the way to five sets in the first round by Martin Klizan, scraping through after losing the first, he was much better against American Steve Johnson in the second, winning in straight sets and never looking pressured.
Into the third round though and ‘Stan the man’ was again in trouble, dropping the first set to Viktor Troicki before coming back with a win in four sets, taking the final out in a tie-breaker.
Seppi, on the other hand has had the draw open up quite nicely for him as an unseeded player after his stunning comeback against Nick Kyrgios in the second round.
With absolutely zero lead-up form to talk about, the Italian not playing since last year he came into the Open with a sense of unknown about him, but a four set win against Paul-Henri Mathieu had him looking strong.
He then found himself two sets down against the Australian, before going on to comeback and win the fifth set 10-8. The third round was a whole lot easier for the veteran as he got the better of Steve Darcis in four sets.
The pair have a long history against each other, playing on 15 occasions. Seppi has won five, but many of them were before Wawrinka rose through the rankings, with the Italian winning only one of their last nine.
Their last three meetings have all come on the hard court, with Seppi only taking a single set between them.
The winner will move into the quarter-finals on Tuesday where a meeting with either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Daniel Evans awaits.
Prediction
Seppi never goes down without a fight and Wawrinka’s form has been hard to get a read on. Expect the fourth seed to get through, but this could be a classic.
Wawrinka in five sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this fourth round match from around 2:30pm (AEDT) or at the completion of Alex Boult and Bradley Mousley vs Sam Querrey and Donald Young on Margaret Court Arena.
Folow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde
Former Wimbledon champion, double grand slam winner and Australian Open finalist Garbine Muguruza has announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 30.…
Rafael Nadal has hailed the brilliance of Alex de Minaur, calling him "a great player" after the Australian forced the Spanish legend to say…
The clay season promises to be one of high level and tight margins. With the Monte Carlo open just around the corner, it will…
In incredible scenes, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz's quarter-final clash with Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells was halted abruptly due to a "bee invasion." Less…
Marathon man Jordan Thompson has finally clinched his first ATP Tour title, with the Australian upsetting Norwegian Casper Ruud to lift the trophy in…
Alex de Minaur has earned the perfect 25th birthday present, booking a place in the final of the Rotterdam Open with an emphatic revenge…
