Australian Open: Roger Federer vs. John Millman to progress on the "dream branch"
Roger Federer will play his third round match at the Australian Open tomorrow at around 11:00 a.m. The Swiss meets local hero John Millmann and fights for progress on what is probably the easiest branch - down on paper - down under.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Jan 23, 2020, 04:48 pm
Roger Federer rushed through the first two rounds of the Australian Open at lightning speed. The Swiss stayed on the course for just two hours and 53 minutes. For comparison: Dominic Thiem stood alone for three hours and 22 minutes on the court for his second-round success over Alex Bolt.
Federer acted in a focused manner from the start in both matches, never leaving anything on fire - in short: the 38-year-old knew how to convince all along the line. And although the shape of the Swiss was the big question mark before the Australian Open for many, he hasn't played an official game since the ATP finals in November. With his previous appearances, Federer must have removed all doubts and showed that he did everything right again with his preparation.
Roger Federer will play his third match at the first Grand Slam of the year on Friday as the second game of the night session in the Rod Laver Arena. The game will be broadcast live on ServusTV at around 11:00 a.m. His opponent is local hero John Millman, who surprisingly won through in three sets in his second round encounter against Hubert Hurkacz. The Australian will probably still have painful memories of Roger Federer, since he caused him a bitter defeat in the round of 16 at the 2018 US Open. Overall, Federer is in the head-to-head with Millman but 2-1 in the front, was able to win the last duel in Halle in two sets in the previous year.
The big hurdles have already passed
Should Roger Federer overcome the Millman hurdle, the Swiss would continue without the really big tests. Because both Denis Shapovalov and Grigor Dimitrov said goodbye to the tournament early, the winners of the game Marton Fucsovics and Tommy Paul would wait in the round of 16. This would spare Federer a duel with a seeded player in the round of 16. Federer still has a clean slate against Hungary. In the two previous duels, the Swiss did not even deliver a set. It would be the first meeting with the American Tommy Paul.
For a possible quarter-finals, the most difficult opponent on paper has already been eliminated in Federer's quarter. Matteo Berrettini, who surprisingly had to surrender to the American Tennys Sandgren. From the seed list perspective, Fabio Fognini would be the most likely candidate for a quarter-final duel with Federer. However, the Italian had in his previous matches in the all-important champions tie-break at the end of the fifth set and consequently already left considerable strength. But the other possible quarter-final opponents are not impossible tasks for Roger Federer: Tennys Sandgren and Sam Querry are both unsettled, against the number 25 of the tournament, Guido Pella, Federer has not yet lost a set.
Possible semi-final with Novak Djokovic
The first really big challenge for the Maestro should therefore only wait in a possible semi-final. Here, however, this could hardly be bigger, no one less than Novak Djokovic would wait there. The seven-time Australian Open champion is also the big favorite for the title in Down Under in 2020.
Until then, it is still a long journey for Roger Federer - even if the largest stones have cleared the way up to now. This will probably only affect the Swiss at the moment, as the 38-year-old emphasized in the press conference before the Australian Open that he wanted to watch from game to game in this tournament. In any case, the next task for Federer is clear and is called John Millman. The big favorite in this third round duel is clearly the Swiss - over 40 places separate the two in the world rankings. Since the US Open 2018 at the latest, however, the Swiss have been warned against the Australian veteran.
Here you will find an overview of the entire individual tableau.
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