Ausi Open - Djokovic and Tsonga Headline Second Quarter of Draw

Melbourne, Australia – When the draw was announced last week, the second quarter looked to be the “Group of death” because of the protagonists, world No.3 Novak Djokovic, No.8 Robin Soderling and No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the makeup. A sprinkling of dangerous floaters in No.18 Tommy Haas, No.20 Mikhail Youzhny and unseeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic and Richard Gasquet were seen as antagonists who could shake up the plot like a thrilling Greek drama. Indeed, this section looked rather menacing.

Looks can be deceiving however. Events in the early goings have shown one protagonist to be a false protagonist, disposed of unexpectedly, as a dramatic device. Aussie Open final match in the quarters.

Djokovic’s Corner

The 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic has a modestly tough section of the second quarter of the draw. He began his campaign against Daniel Gimeno-Traver and although he got through in straight sets, the match was not as easy as the score suggested.

Next up for Djokovic is Marco Chiudinelli, a huge underdog but no less dangerous for it. Swiss Chiudinelli was once a promising junior that moved up the system with his good friend Roger Federer. Going pro was a different story for Chiudinelli, who struggled to find consistency at the higher level and suffered several injuries. Last season, after returning from a knee injury, Chiudinelli enjoyed a few standout runs, namely at his home event in Basel, wherein he reached the semis and lost to Federer.

Chiudinelli owns a victory over Djokovic in the lower circuits that dates back to 2004. It is the only meeting between the two. There is good reason to believe Chiudinelli could give Djokovic a nice battle. Granted, more likely than not, Djokovic will survive.

In the third round, Djokovic would come up against either Michael Berrer or Denis Istomin. The former would be a much easier matchup than the latter, but Djokovic should have little trouble dismissing either, or.

The last 16 would serve a compelling matchup for Djokovic in Mikhail Youzhny. The Russian has been regaining former glorious form and he looms a dangerous floater in this section. If there were a player that could give Djokovic pause, it would be Youzhny. Of course, this presupposes the fact that Youzhny will reach that far. Other candidates for the fourth round spot are Santiago Giraldo, Lukasz Kubot and Jan Hajek – any one of this trio would be a cakewalk for Djokovic.

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Tsonga’s Corner

Tsonga now headlines the bottom-half of the second quarter and he has a tough section to get through. Tsonga opened his tournament against big-serving Sergiy Stakhovsky and advanced with only a few scrapes to show for it.

Next up is another big-serving showdown against American Taylor Dent. This match could be potentially interesting and even scary for Tsonga.

Dent, was a promising junior and at one time earmarked as a future great. He never made good on expectations. Not for a lack of effort, but injuries that held him back. Dent returned in 2009 after being sidelined for two years with a back injury, which he had to have surgically fixed.