If Denis Istomin’s unexpected defeat of Novak Djokovic in the second round opened the men’s field at the Australian Open, Mischa Zverev’s unexpected win over top seed Andy Murray is surely the equivalent of throwing a hand grenade into the men’s draw.
Murray was seeking to break his Melbourne Park hoodoo of five times runner up and with the exit of his Melbourne Park nemesis, Novak Djokovic, he stood to have his best chance yet of lifting the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup above his head.
That of course was all until yesterday when 29-year-old German Mischa Zverev played the match of his life, sending the number one seed packing.
The men’s draw has now been opened to the possibility of Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal adding another Grand Slam to their already bulging trophy cabinets – or a first time winner of a major.
Prior to today’s shock result, Murray’s side of the draw was already throwing up an interesting fourth round clash between Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori as well as some potentially interesting Quarterfinal match-ups.
Federer and Nishikori’s fourth-round match last night see-sawed into a fifth set before Federer, the 17th seed, came out the victor in the fifth set.
It seems breaks of serve was the main dish on the menu and by the final set it was a decidedly fitter and even younger looking Federer who battled it out against the injury-prone Nishikori.
So, where to from here with the men’s draw?
The survivors heading into the quarters are yesterday’s man of the moment, Zverev who will take on Federer and in the other quarterfinal number four seed, Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka will meet France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seeded 12.
The problem with betting against Wawrinka in a Grand Slam is that the man just loves the big stage a Grand Slam has to offer.
Don’t forget Wawrinka has as many Grand Slam titles as Andy Murray.
Of course the other problem with betting for Wawrinka is that you just never know which Wawrinka will take to the court.
I tend to buy into the popular narrative of Wawrinka’s fragile mental capacity on the tennis court. I am at my core just a hopeless romantic who loves the idea that tennis is as much a mental battle as a physical one.
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This post first appeared on Stan Wawrinka Vs Viktor Troicki: Australian Open Tennis Live Scores, please read the originial post: here
