Australian Open 2018 - Day 7 & 8 - 4th round

First topic message reminder :

Now moving onto what's often my favourite stage of a slam - 4th round, where we have a mix of big names and some surprises thrown in for good measure (particularly in the womens).

Womens' 4th round line-up as follows:

Halep vs Osaka
Strycova vs Pliskova
Hsieh vs Kerber
Keys vs Garcia
Martic vs Mertens
Allertova vs Svitolina
Kontaveit vs Suarez Navarro
Rybarikova vs Wozniacki

Mens' 4th round line-up as follows:

Nadal vs Schwartzmann
Carreno Busta vs Cilic
Dimitrov vs Kyrgios
Edmund vs Seppi
Thiem vs Sandgren
Djokovic vs Chung
Fognini vs Berdych
Fucsovics vs Federer

The women's draw to me looks a bit lop-sided - a much stronger top-half and whoever comes through that (most likely Kerber or Pliskova) I think will go on to win the title. With exception of Wozniacki anyone from the bottom half would be a surprise finalist. I think Halep, Pliskova, Kerber, Keys, Martic, Svitolina, Kontaveit and Wozniacki will reach the quarters.

Onto the mens 4 of the matches have a clear favourite, 2 have a marginal favourite (Cilic and Berdych) and 2 matches look like real 50:50 contests - the Dimitrov v Kyrgios encounter and Edmund v Seppi. Both of these are tough calls. I'm going for Dimitrov in 5 as I think he's that bit stronger physically these days (Kyrgios certainly capable of blowing him off court but I'm not convinced of his physical staying power in a 5 setter). Seppi will be a tough opponent for Edmund - not to be under-estimated, but I'm going for Edmund in 4 long sets, provided he keeps up his current serving percentage. I don't see Federer, Djokovic or Nadal having many problems in their matches, Berdych is in good form and should see off Fognini whilst I think Carreno Busta can push Cilic though I'll go for the Croat to win this one.

Born Slippy wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:A cracking result for Chung - no doubt. I never saw any of the match so can only go on what has been posted here. He will take a massive boost from this win but expectation levels and pressures will now go right up for him.

For Novak it sounds like the elbow issue has not healed or is still there or still being an aggravation. It is clearly still gnawing away at him as earlier in the tournament when asked about how the elbow felt I was concerned when he said that it still wasn't 100%. Injuries like that won't improve if playing slam tennis. He needs to decide now on the next course of action? He may need to go down Andy's route of surgery ascseemingly a long rest alone has not solved the issue. Fingers crossed for him but kudos to Chung.

The door has not opened for Roger it has been taken off its hinges today with Djokovic and Thiem crashing out. I wouldn't bet a penny against this being a Rafa V Roger final now. Who wins that? Hmm tough to say.

Roger wins easily against Rafa here. The only question I think is whether he will win the title without dropping a set - 11 years after he first did so. The draw has worked out absolutely perfectly for him.

I don't think anyone wins easy against Rafa...not even Fed. I can't see that last years results will continue, Rafa is too good for that to happen.

Guest82 wrote:

No name Bertie wrote:As far as I can tell, Rafa looks to be in ominous form.  Rafa was a break up in the final set the last time they met at the Australian Open.  Rafa won the US Open and the courts at the Australian Open are slower.

The US Open courts are no longer slower than the Australian Open courts.  Last year the US Open was very slow and high bouncing and the AO was faster by a long way.  This year the AO is fast too and I guess the USO will be slow again.

Thanks for the update. I should add the court conditions change between daytime and evening.

Well, we wondered how Djoko, Rafa and Andy would cope with the advancing years, given their all-action games. Now we know that years of toil have really taken their toll. Rafa has, for the time being, managed to overcome his difficulties and now Novak and Andy have their problems.
   Just watched some highlights of the Djoko-Chung match. Time and again Djoko had the Korean at full stretch but refused to come forward and play volleys. If Fed ends up playing Chung, I'm sure the Swiss won't be camped on the baseline.
   However, got a feeling that the surprise results are not over in this tournament and that maybe Fed could be upset by Berdych. Wonder if Edmund has been eying these shocks and thinking that he couple topple Dimi?