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Australia’s final singles hope at the US Open, John Millman will be up against it but stands a fighting chance when he takes on German World no.37 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round. Join The Roar for live scores from 1am (AEST).
Kohlschreiber was bumped into a seeding position, with No.33 next to his name after Andy Murray pulled out of the tournament. As a result, he got a more favourable draw and hasn’t had a problem during the first two rounds.
While Roger Federer is the likely next opponent for the winner of this match, both Kohlschreiber and Millman have shown good form both before and during the final grand slam of the year.
The German, who is known as more of a clay-court specialist came into the US Open having played his last two tournaments on the preferred surface. That would have given him confidence, with a semi-final run in Hamburg and victory in Kitzbuhel, but not playing on the hard court at all is a concern.
He is yet to be truly put to the test in New York as well, with an easy straight set win over Tim Smyczek in the first round, before Santiago Giraldo retired against him in the second down two sets to love.
While Kohlschreiber’s court movement has been strong, he may struggle to have a big enough serve to worry Millman, and for that reason his defence from the back of the court will have to be excellent.
Millman came into the US Open on the back of strong form at the Lexington Challenger where he made the final. Despite some losses between then and Flushing Meadows, he was still playing quality tennis and that’s been reflected in the first two rounds.
On a protected ranking, Millman is a lot better than his actual ranking of 235 suggests, and this is a second visit to the third round of the final grand slam of the year for the Australian.
He overcame countryman Nick Kyrgios in the first round in what was a huge upset win. He was written off before the match, but played quality tennis to overcome Kyrgios, who also fell with a shoulder injury. His second round win was equally as comfortable, with Millman blowing Malek Jaziri off the court 6-1, 7-6, 6-1.
If he gets his serve working here, then there’s no reason he can’t cause another boilover. He will have to reverse history though, given Kohlschreiber has won the pair’s only match back in 2015 on the hard court in Metz.
Prediction
The Australian will fight hard here, and Kohlschreiber isn’t fond of playing against players with a heavy serve off clay. An upset is brewing.
Millman in four sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this third round match from 1am (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment below.