Australian Open 4th Round Men's Preview (Part 1)

The Australian Open is down to the last sixteen, the business end of the tournament begins here. A week of good tennis in what have been some very testing conditions at times brings us these eight matches.

Roger Federer (1) v Novak Djokovic (14)

Post-draw a Federer v Djokovic encounter was always on the cards, and both players have kept their appointments. The world number one and defending champion, Roger Federer, has steadily eased through his first three rounds, triumphing over Bjorn Phau, Jonas Bjorkman and Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets as expected. Djokovic has continued his excellent start to the season, following on from his tournament victory in Adelaide. The young Serb destroyed Chile’s Nicolas Massu in round one for the loss of just two games. He followed that up with wins over Feliciano Lopez and Danai Udomchoke. Federer leads the head to head 2-0, both victories coming in 2006. There is some added spice to this match, after some disparaging comments Federer made about Djokovic and his propensity to claim injury following their Davis Cup meeting in Switzerland. Djokovic is talking a good game and hopefully he will be able to see it through, if so we could all be treated to an excellent match.

Richard Gasquet (18) v Tommy Robredo (7)

Tommy Robredo has so far lived up to his seeding and made relatively short work of his draw, with wins against Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, Jurgen Melzer and Sam Querrey. The Spaniard has lost one set in the process, losing a tie-break to American wildcard, Sam Querrey. Twenty year old Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, came through his opening two rounds with flying colours, recording straight sets win over Filippo Volandri and Amer Delic. In the third round he was presented with the challenge of a French civil war against Gael Monfils. Gasquet was able to overcome the athletic and jack in the box nature of Monfils’s game, winning in four sets to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open. In three previous visits to Melbourne, Gasquet had not won a match. The players have met on two previous occasions and have split meetings. Robredo won the most recent match at the Cincinnati Masters in 2006.

Mardy Fish v David Ferrer (16)

Few would have predicted this meeting in the last sixteen, seeing David Ferrer here is not too surprising. Coming into Melbourne on the back of a title in Auckland, where he defeated Fish in the semi-finals, Ferrer has continued to exhibit his ability to never admit defeat. The sixteenth seed overcame Kristian Pless and Thomas Johansson, before showing his battling qualities to the full, coming back from two sets down against Radek Stepanek. Mardy Fish took out number four seed Ivan Ljubicic in round one, and has backed up that victory by reaching the last sixteen. That victory came in four sets, and another four set win over Nicolas Mahut, set up a third round meeting with home favourite, Wayne Arthurs. The Aussie would be playing in Melbourne for the last time, and it was a great shame for him to have to retire after just three games of his match with Fish. The head to head stands at two apiece, with Ferrer’s previously mentioned victory in Auckland just last week being their most recent encounter. Ferrer will be the favourite to make the last eight.

Mario Ancic (9) v Andy Roddick (6)

A meeting of two big servers will determine who moves on to the quarter-finals. The pair have combined for 73 aces thus far in Melbourne. Ancic has reached this stage with wins over Go Soeda, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Dominik Hrbaty. Roddick has been well tested already in his first three rounds. A set and a break down in his first round match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the American was in danger of a first round knock out. However, he was able to turn that match around and followed that up with a victory over another French opponent, Marc Gicquel. The anticipated blockbuster between Roddick and Marat Safin materialised after the Russian was able to win two five set matches in his opening rounds. The difference in the third round battle was evident in two critical tie-breaks in the 1st and 4th sets, Roddick served with authority and stamped on Safin the moment an error was made. Off the back of a moral boosting win against Roger Federer (albeit an exhibition), Roddick looks well placed to make the last four and another possible meeting with the world number one. Ancic has failed to record a victory against Roddick in four previous meetings.

Part two of the 4th round previews will be posted upon completion of the 3rd round matches which have been held up by rain.