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26th seed Benoit Paire will be favourite in his second round clash with Australian John Millman, but it will be anything but an easy match. Join The Roar for live scores from around 11:15pm (AEST).
Neither player was in good form during the lead up to the biggest grand slam, but both overcame that to take first round wins.
In saying that, they were both pushed all the way to five sets and were pretty unconvincing.
Paire, being a seeded player who should have been able to breeze through his match in straight sets will be particularly worried about how hard he was pushed, and also how much time he had to spend on court, which will hurt him if he does manage to keep advancing through the tournament.
Taking on Franco Skugor he would drop the first and third sets, before being taken all the way to 10-8 in the second. It was a real battle for Paire to find any rhythm or momentum in his play and he will need to pick up moving forward.
Surprising is hardly the word to use though, given he has never gone past the third round of Wimbledon, struggles on grass generally and lost his only match since the French Open when he exited in the second round against Teimuraz Gabashvili.
Millman meanwhile, ranked at 67 in the world has recorded a fairly solid victory in the first round, defeating journeyman Albert Montanes.
While it was a match he was expected to win, building up to the Rio Olympics where he should get the opportunity to represent Australia after both Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic pulled out, he had to come back from two sets to one down.
After taking the first set, he then dropped the next two before sailing home 6-4, 6-3.
Millman’s form, like Paire’s, has been ordinary to say the least, although he managed to grab a couple of wins against Lucas Pouille and Thomaz Belluci in Stuttgart and Nottingham respectively.
The pair have never faced off before.
Prediction
This should be a high quality encounter – with neither player in great form it’s hard to pick a winner, however Millman leading into an Olympic Games campaign and with a longer build up on a surface he enjoys could well cause an upset.
Millman in five sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from around 11:15pm (AEST) or following the Nicolas Mahut vs David Ferrer match on court 16 and don’t forget to add your own comments below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde