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Can Australian Daria Gavrilova cause a major upset and knock out sixth seed Petra Kvitova? Join The Roar from around 9pm (AEDT) for live scores and coverage.
The hopes of a nation lie on the shoulders of recently converted Australian Daria Gavrilova.
The Russian-born right-hander has never passed the second round of a grand slam and will be hoping after a stellar start to 2016, she can make her way through to the third round in front of a home crowd.
Gavrilova started 2016 with a Hopman Cup win alongside Nick Kyrgios. The Melbourne local defeated world No.32 Sabine Lisicki and world No.21 Elina Svitolina during the mixed doubles tournament held in Perth after losing to both Caroline Garcia and Heather Watson.
She is unseeded and has won five of her last ten matches on the WTA Tour, most recently over Lucie Hradecka in straight sets 7-6, 6-4.
Petra Kvitova meanwhile is seeded sixth in the first grand slam for 2016 but has won just four of her last ten matches.
She opened her Australian Open campaign with a win in straight sets over Luksika Kumkhum 6-3, 6-1 which was her first full match of the year after she retired against Saisai Zheng at Shenzhen after she claimed a first set win 6-2.
Gavrilova and Kvitova have played each other just once before with their only meeting coming at Wuhan during the second round in 2015 when Kvitova came out victorious in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
The winner will take on either 28th seed Kristina Mladenovic or qualifier Nicole Gibbs.
Prediction
Gavrilova will push Kvitova to the brink and test the Czech, however, she won’t be able to hold up against the world No.7 and end any chance of breaking the 36-year drought of an Australian woman winning the Open.
Kvitova in three sets.
Join The Roar for live score updates and debate in our live blog from around 9pm (AEDT) following the completion of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Omar Jasika.
Feel free to follow the live scores and commentary, and drop a comment in the box below if you’re watching the match.
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