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2018 Brisbane International, January 2 Men's Singles, 2nd round Pat Rafter Arena, Queensland Tennis Centre Peter Polansky vs John Millman |
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The first round at the Brisbane International concludes when Australian John Millman looks to build on a strong finish to 2017 as he takes on Canadian Peter Polansky. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from around 9:30pm (AEDT).
Millman, on the back of a great performance for Australia at the Davis Cup semi-final against Belgium, had a positive finish to 2017.
His aim for the start of 2018 will be to stay ahead of Thanasi Kokkinakis and Matthew Ebden in the line and retain his place in the team for the upcoming first round tie against Germany.
The only way he is going to do that is by putting together a string of good results, and a wildcard to the Brisbane International is the perfect way for him to start his season.
Avoiding the big players in the field and taking on Polansky in the first round should leave him with a good shot at moving forward.
Millman is better than his ranking of 128 suggests, and winning his final tournament of 2017 in Hua Hin was a great step forward, defeating countryman Andrew Whittington in the final.
That followed a run to the third round at the US Open, including a win over Nick Kyrgios, but being outside the top 100 means he doesn’t have an automatic spot at the Australian Open and he has not yet been offered a wildcard.
The 28-year-old needs to build form in a hurry ahead of a possible qualification run to his home grand slam.
Polansky had to qualify for the Brisbane International and like Millman faces a similar route into the first grand slam of the year.
After an ordinary finish to the 2017 season, Polansky was strong in qualification for the first tournament of the new year. He went past Filip Peliwo 6-2, 6-2, before recording a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Yannick Hanfmann.
The second win, wrestling back momentum and not dropping his serve in the third set was particularly impressive, but he will need to maintain that level across three sets against Millman, who proved exactly what he could do against world No.8 David Goffin in the Davis Cup last year.
Playing the percentages and breaking the less powerful Millman down will be important for Polansky if he is to get through here.
Prediction
Millman has home court advantage and finished 2017 brilliantly. Given he hasn’t played a competitive match, don’t be surprised if he starts slowly, but then comes cruising over the top to win.
Millman in three sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the Brisbane International from around 9:30pm (AEDT) or at the conclusion of Johanna Konta and Ajla Tomljanović on the Pat Rafter Arena and don’t forget to drop a comment below.