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Australian Nick Kyrgios will have to keep his emotions in check and play close to the perfect match if he is to advance out of the third round at the 2016 Australian Open when he takes on sixth seed Thomas Berdych. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from around 8:30pm (AEDT) after Serena Williams versus Daria Kasatkina.
Kyrgios was troubled during his first round match, where if you didn’t pay attention to his actions and attitude you would have said he dominated from the outset. But that wasn’t the case as he recorded a straight sets victory over Pablo Cuevas.
He was uptight from the very beginning of the match and certainly took a while to warm into the contest – something he certainly won’t be able to afford when he takes on Berdych. He then went on to change shorts, complain and generally be Nick Kyrgios. At one point he asked the chair umpire if one of the linesmen were actually awake.
None the less he would win the match, as he did in the first round with straight sets and continue on his way through the Australian Open. It was a hardly surprising victory for Kyrgios, after his pre-Open form saw him defeat some of the big names in Tennis, including Andy Murray at the Hopman Cup in Perth.
Berdych meanwhile, the sixth seed for the first grand slam of the year has also had two straight sets victories so far in the tournament. They have come against Yuki Bhambri and then Mirza Basic whom he had very little trouble in dispatching.
Berdych, like some of the other big names at the Open chose during his lead-up to the Australian Open to skip tournaments in Australia, rather focusing on the tournament played in Doha. There, he made it all the way to the semi-finals, eventually falling in straight sets to Novak Djokovic who of course hasn’t dropped a set this year, so read into that what you will.
The pair have never played before this, and it will be interesting to see how Berdych handles Kyrgios’ erratic style and attitude on court. It is certainly something that could tip the game into the favour of Kyrgios.
Prediction
I expect Kyrgios to come in and out of the match here as he so often does. He will have ups and downs, while Berdych will play his usual consistent style. However, if Kyrgios can get on a run at any point then he could take the match away from Berdych at a rate of knots.
Kyrgios in five sets.
Join The Roar for live coverage of this third round match at the 2016 Australian Open from around 8:30pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to leave a comment if you’re following along with the action.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde