Australian Open 2012: Men's Draw Underdogs Worth Watching on Jan. 20

The third round of the men’s draw kicks off today with its bottom half getting under way.

The winners of today’s matches secure a spot among the last 16 men standing and a chance to play in the second week of a major, which is a goal in itself for many players.

A lot of experts say that this when the majors really start, since as the draws narrow down, the toughest matchups and rivalries come about.

The four major events—Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open—represent the best chances for underdogs to pull off upsets. The draws hold 128 players and therefore provide more opportunities for lower ranked players to face the top ones.

In all other events—Futures, Challengers, ATP Tours and Masters 1000—the draws are smaller and only highly ranked players are accepted. The number of spots available for qualifiers is also smaller than they are in one of the four majors.

In that note, four seeds from this section of the draw have been upset in the first round—Juan Monaco (25) to Philipp Kohlschreiber, Fernando Verdasco (22) to Bernard Tomic, Jurgen Melzer (31) to Ivo Karlovic and Ivan Ljubicic (28) to Lukas Lakco.

Mardy Fish, the eight favorite to win the tournament, was the only seeded player from the bottom half of the draw to go out in the second round, losing to Alejandro Falla.

With these upsets already in the books, let’s take a look at what are possibilities of more unexpected results to happen in the upcoming round, with TV coverage in the United States beginning at 7 p.m. on Tennis Channel until 11 p.m. and continuing on ESPN 2 from then to 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Alejandro Falla Taking on Philipp Kohlschreiber

The Colombian Falla takes the court as the underdog for this match as he lost to Kohlschreiber all the three previous times they faced each other. The German also holds a better ranking at 41, than does his opponent at 71.

However, Alejandro is already the protagonist of a major upset in the tournament. He had the best win of his career, beating top ranked American and top 10 in the world Mardy Fish in three straight sets in the previous round, which should be enough motivation for him to turn things around against Kohlschreiber.

Look for a great tennis match and good chances for Falla.

Bernard Tomic Taking on Alexandr Dolgopolov

The head-to-head stat in this matchup says 3-0 in favor of Dolgopolov.

In addition to that, the man from Ukraine had an amazing run last year at the Australian Open, reaching the quarterfinal.

Australian Bernard Tomic is ranked No. 38 in the world and will be the underdog against Dolgopolov, who is ranked 25 positions higher.

What will make this match very interesting is that Tomic is playing at home, he is the next Australian hope and was already responsible for an upset in this tournament, having knocked out No. 22 seed Fernando Verdasco in the first round. He definitely has a shot at this one.

These two fine young men have very unique styles of play and should put on a great show.

Ivo Karlovic Taking on Roger Federer

If you ask any player on the tour who they wish would not be in their section of the draw, you would expect the answer to be pretty obvious: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Dokovic, right?

Wrong!

Big fellows and big servers like Ivo Karlovic and John Isner are the most feared by the pros. This type of players give no rhythm to his opponents and don't let them touch the ball as many times as the usually do against "regular" players.

People who face these nasty, gigantic ball strikers, usually leave the match—winning or losing— feeling they never hit a clean shot and have to go straight to the practice courts, to straighten out their swings. It is a nightmare.

Despite having lost nine times to the great Swiss, Ivo Karlovic did beat him once—2008 in Cincinnati—and can be dangerous to any opponent in any given day.

Kevin Anderson Taking on Tomas Berdych

Kevin Anderson is an underrated tough player from South Africa that easily fits in the description of the most feared players on the tour, made in the previous slide.

Anderson stands 6’8” tall, has a big serve and contrary to what one would expect, he has also a very solid game off the ground.

These two have never faced each other.

Tomas Berdych, being the 7th seed in the draw and due to his credentials is the clear favorite, but you can definitely expect Anderson to give him a good run for his money.

Niclolas Almagro Taking on Stanislas Wawrinka

Although Nicolas Almagro is seeded No. 10 in the tournament, and will take on the No. 21 seed Stanislas Wawrinka, he should be considered underdog in this match for having a 3x1 losing record against the opponent and for being a clay court specialist rather than a hard court one.

Despite all that, Almagro is currently the 10^th best player in the world, according to the ATP ranking and has beaten Wawrinka on a hard surface court in his sole victory against the Swiss.

Look for a nice match from two fine players with two of the best looking one-handed backhanded on the tour.