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Seventh seed Kei Nishikori battles number 26 seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the third round of the 2016 Australian Open. Join The Roar for live scores from 11am (AEDT).
Garcia-Lopez skipped all tournaments in Australia in the lead-up to the first grand slam of the season, playing in Chennai and Auckland.
In Chennai, he made the quarter-finals after recording victories against lowly ranked opponents Taro Daniel and Ante Pavic, then crashed out in straight sets against Stan Wawrinka.
In Auckland he suffered a straight-sets loss in the first round against world number 51 Lukas Rosol, raising serious questions about his form.
His first two rounds at the Australian Open though have been dominant victories. The first round was a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu, before he defeated Daniel Brands in four sets, bouncing back after dropping the first set.
Of course his quality of opponent is about to take a massive leap, with Nishikori being the seventh seed.
The Japanese has recorded two straight-sets victories, over Philipp Kohlschreiber and then Austin Krajicek.
However Nishikori wasn’t in the greatest of form either in the lead up to the Open. At the Brisbane International, he defeated Mikhail Kukushkin in straight sets, before losing to Bernard Tomic in the second round in three sets.
At Kooyong, he only played the single match, defeating young Australian wildcard entry to the Open Omar Jasika.
Nishikori and Garcia-Lopez have played on two occasions, first in 2008, and the last in 2014, with both straight-sets win to Nishikori. However Garcia-Lopez has improved drastically since they last faced off.
Prediction
Don’t be surprised if Garcia-Lopez wins a set, but Nishikori to win in four.
Join The Roar for live scores of this third-round match at the 2016 Australian Open from 11am (AEDT) and be sure to comment if you’re following the action.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde