Australian Open - Day Four

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The pick of the matches on day four are as follows:-

Osaka V Konta - I take Konta to win in straight sets.

Istomin V Djokovic - Istomin just doesn't have the all-round game to trouble Novak. Djoko to win in straight sets but one or two of those may be tight. A win of something like 7-5 6-4 6-2.

Baghdatis V Nadal - Rafa to win in three or maybe four sets at the most.

Muller V Raonic - Raonic to win in four sets.

Dimitrov V Chung - Dimitrov to win in four sets.

Dolgopolov V Monfils - Could be the match of the day. Both are unconventional - anything could happen. Monfils to win in five.

Baghdatis gets one of the breaks back but still trails 2-5. Only problem for Rafa could be that these are long drawn out games. The set is already over 40 minutes long.

Baghdatis holds but still trails 3-5. Nadal to serve for the first set.

Rafa seals the first set 6-3 in 48 minutes. I can now see him winning this with the minimum of fuss say 6-3 6-2 6-2.

Jordan Thompson may not be done yet. He takes the third set in a tie-break and now trails Dominic Thiem by two sets to one.

Rafa breaks at the start of the second set and Thiem breaks at the start of the fourth set.

Rafa cruising leading 6-3 4-1. Thiem a couple of games away from a place in the third round but Thompson is fighting on gamely.

A win for Rafa here (looks very likely now) would line-up a tasty third round match against Alex Zverev.

A breadstick for Rafa and he now leads 6-3 6-1.

Interesting tournament so far. Murray now likely to be number 1 until at least Wimbledon or even the US Open I think. Unless someone does something spectacular, or Murray has an injury or time out.

Thiem wins in four sets against Jordan Thompson in two and three quarter hours. He looks set to play Bruno Paire in the third round on Saturday.

anybody watching the Nadal match? He appears to be flying through that match. Admittedly Baghdatis is not the force he once was but has rafa looked very impressive or has Marcos had a shocker or a bit of both?

This is a big tournament for Nadal and I have a feeling he could make a strong run now. Zverev would be a big test but I think Nadal would be a very tough matchup for Dimitrov or Gasquet.

While he lost to Raonic recently, I would probably still give Rafa a great chance against Roanic if he returns to the type of form we know he is capable of. He has always neutralised big servers well and over 5 sets, he could take Raonic.

Should he reach the final and build a lot of confidence up, he could be a dangerous opponent. I am struggling to see past Murray to be honest but if Rafa gets his mojo back, we know he has proved a very tough match up for Murray over the years

will be exciting to see. for now they need to actually get to the final

slashermcguirk wrote:anybody watching the Nadal match? He appears to be flying through that match. Admittedly Baghdatis is not the force he once was but has rafa looked very impressive or has Marcos had a shocker or a bit of both?

This is a big tournament for Nadal and I have a feeling he could make a strong run now. Zverev would be a big test but I think Nadal would be a very tough matchup for Dimitrov or Gasquet.

While he lost to Raonic recently, I would probably still give Rafa a great chance against Roanic if he returns to the type of form we know he is capable of. He has always neutralised big servers well and over 5 sets, he could take Raonic.

Should he reach the final and build a lot of confidence up, he could be a dangerous opponent. I am struggling to see past Murray to be honest but if Rafa gets his mojo back, we know he has proved a very tough match up for Murray over the years

will be exciting to see. for now they need to actually get to the final

Rafa has looked very good but Baghdatis hasn't really offered a test. We'll get a better idea of what nick Rafa is in once he gets pushed in a set. Once a set gets to something like 4-4 is when he'll come under more scrutiny. Thus far in this match he is looking good.

Rafa wins 6-3 6-1 6-3 in 2 hours twelve minutes. Through with the minimum of fuss. One thing I noticed is he seems to be using the body serve a lot more than he did in recent times.

Zverev will be a big step up for him and I expect to see Nadal's mental strength tested a lot more. For Rafa, his forehand is key. Once he has his confidence back with that shot, he is lethal. It is so unique to other forehands in the game with the huge kick. Novak is the only player I have really seen handle it consistently well on the backhand side.

Don't know how good Zverev's BH is but he certainly has the height to deal with Rafa' topspin

Zverev's backhand is his stronger wing. His cross court backhand is a big weapon of his.

Style wise, Zverev is the type to give Nadal problems. He has power off both wings and a big serve. If Zverev plays well then I imagine it will be a good test for Nadal and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Zverev wins.

This is what I was hoping for. Sounds like DelPo type player. We shall see. If Rafa gets past him I think he makes the final. Raonic is apparently struggling with a cold.

Might be a little premature to fancy a title chance for Rafa given his slam record since 2014 and his many losses against top 10 players in recent years.

Novak perhaps needs to find a new path where he plays his very best at certain events, not so much at others, and finds an excuse to skip the grind of a few masters. Forget about being no 1 or the rankings in general but find the way to still be able to produce his best at a slam.

Losing early at the slams and winning Doha, it's a bit backward.

Henman Bill wrote:Forget about being no 1

Just a few months ago the consensus was nobody could replace him at No1 for the next couple of years at least.  And now he has to forget about being there?  Ouch.

But yes, if he continues like he has been doing the last few months, he will reach #3 before he does #1.  I was quite pleased to see him lose as, with the exception of Fed, I would like to see all 28-30 year olds and older to get replaced with the new blood.

Nole's loss certainly opens up the draw for someone younger (or Rafa? - ) to reach the final from the bottom half.