Grigor Dimitrov in the first round of the Australian Open 2018
Grigor Dimitrov in the first round of the Australian Open 2018 (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Australian Open 2018 | Three to See on Day 7

By Jake Davies

  • Grigor Dimitrov [3] vs Nick Kyrgios [17]
  • Magdalena Rybarikova [19] vs Caroline Wozniacki [2]
  • Pablo Carreno Busta [10] vs Marin Cilic [6]
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Who will make it to the all important second week as the fourth round action begins?

 

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Grigor Dimitrov [3] vs Nick Kyrgios [17] H2H: Dimitrov leads 2-1

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Day Seven of the Australian Open marks the beginning of the fourth round matches and that is where the event starts to get even more competitive and it is where we start seeing who can be considered as legitimate contenders for that 2018 Australian Open title.

Nick Kyrgios electrified the crowd with a fantastic four set win over  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He showed signs of maturity in overcoming one of the players he looked up to growing up. Now he has to look past that emotional victory and focus on beating last year’s semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov.

Dimitrov has made hard work of his draw, needing five sets to beat Mackenzie McDonald and then came through an error-strewn match against Andrey Rublev, but he’ll take confidence from the fact that he is still winning these matches.

I think Kyrgios’ form is slightly better. He’s serving much more efficiently in comparison to the Bulgarian and Kyrgios managed to beat Dimitrov in Brisbane at the beginning of the year.

Prediction: Kyrgios in four sets

 

Magdalena Rybarikova [19] vs Caroline Wozniacki [2] H2H: Wozniacki leads 3-1

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Caroline Wozniacki will feel lucky that she is still alive and kicking in the Australian Open draw. She was staring at defeat when she faced two match point and was a double break down to Jana Fett in the second round, but somehow grounded past her opponent to win without playing breathtaking tennis. The Dane decided not to miss a single ball and waited for her inexperienced opponent to collapse and it worked.

She has mentioned that she has nothing to lose after that win and she is playing with house money. But it is hard to believe that when a Grand Slam title is on the line and Wozniacki will be desperate to get her hands on a first major this week. Her next opponent is Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova, who reached a career high last season after reaching her first grand slam semi-final at Wimbledon. The journey she took to get to that level was a difficult one after undertaking surgery on her wrist and on her knee before building her ranking back up to the Top 20.

I think Wozniacki will put on a similar performance where she is extremely hard to beat and will get the win over the Slovakian in two sets.

Prediction: Wozniacki in two sets

 

Pablo Carreno Busta [10] vs Marin Cilic [6] H2H: Cilic leads 1-0

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Marin Cilic is doing what he usually does. He is quietly making his way through the draw with no-one really talking about his results, his performances or his chances for the title. The Croat will face the rising Pablo Carreno Busta in his fourth round match. The Spaniard was on a bit of a slump towards the end of the season, despite making the World Tour Finals in London, but he has now started to pick up some form on the hard courts and should be a decent test for the 2014 US Open champion.

Cilic has the ability to give his opponents no real say in the match. He can play lights out tennis and really take away any real options and I think he will do that against Carreno Busta. The Spaniard can make things difficult as he loves a target when his opponent comes forward, but Cilic should prevail in four tight sets.

Prediction: Cilic in four tight sets

 

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