Australian Open 2015 Bracket: Day 5 Results, Predictions for Top Day 6 Pairings
Friday was just another typical day for the top seeds at the Australian Open. Rafael Nadal cruised to victory, Andy Murray dazzled, Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova walked all over their competition and Roger Federer is going home early.
Wait, what was that last part?
Indeed, Federer lost a stunner to a relatively anonymous, unseeded pro named Andreas Seppi at Rod Laver Arena on Day 5 of the 2015 Australian Open. Seppi did it in four sets, hitting the big shots on the big points to win 6-4, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5).
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The Aussie Open will have to carry on without the Swiss legend, who will fail to reach the semifinal of this event for the first time since 2003.
Tennis.com provided a look at the match-point winner, in which Seppi pops a nifty shot down the line that Federer mistakenly lets float by:
The sequence was a summation of the match itself, as Federer was sloppy on Friday and couldn't quite string points together. There was an ocean of blue court to smack that shot into, but Federer wouldn't or couldn't knock it down.
Tennis is a lonely, binary sport, as one player's nightmare is another's dream result. Such is the case for Seppi, whose career record against Federer now stands at 1-10.
Of course, his miraculous upset wasn't the only noteworthy performance from Day 5. Here's a look at the rest of the Friday scores from the women's and men's singles draw.
| Matchup | Score |
| Andreas Seppi def. No. 2 Roger Federer | 6-4, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5) |
| No. 3 Rafael Nadal def. Dudi Sela | 6-1, 6-0, 7-5 |
| No. 7 Tomas Berdych def. Victor Troicki | 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 |
| Nick Kyrgios def. Malek Jaziri | 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-1 |
| No. 6 Andy Murray def. Joao Sousa | 6-1, 6-1, 7-5 |
| Bernard Tomic def. Sam Groth | 6-4, 7-6 (8), 6-3 |
| No. 14 Kevin Anderson def. No. 24 Richard Gasquet | 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6) |
| No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov def. Marcos Baghdatis | 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 |
| Matchup | Score |
| Julia Goerges def. Lucie Hradecka | 7-6 (6), 7-5 |
| No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard def. Caroline Garcia | 7-5, 6-0 |
| No. 2 Maria Sharapova def. No. 31 Zarina Diyas | 6-1, 6-1 |
| No. 10 Ekaterina Makarova def. No. 22 Karolina Pliskova | 6-4, 6-4 |
| No. 3 Simona Halep def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands | 6-4, 7-5 |
| Yanina Wickmayer def. No. 14 Sara Errani | 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 |
| Irina-Camelia Begu def. Carina Witthoeft | 6-4, 6-4 |
| No. 21 Shuai Peng def. Yaroslava Shvedova | 7-6 (7), 6-3 |
Note: A full bracket can be found at ESPN.com.
As one can see, the women's bracket saw a notable upset of its own, with unseeded Yanina Wickmayer knocking out No. 14 Sara Errani in a tough three-set match.
With those results in mind, let's make a couple of predictions on the top matchups to watch on Day 6 in Melbourne.
Top Day 6 Matchups, Predictions
No. 9 David Ferrer vs. No. 18 Gilles Simon
One might find it tough to ignore the world No. 1 Novak Djokovic on the blue courts of Melbourne, but for those looking for a feisty, competitive matchup, David Ferrer vs. Gilles Simon fits the bill on an otherwise bland Day 6 draw in the men's bracket.
Ferrer might have the lower digit next to his name and a 5-2 career record versus Simon, but he has reason to be wary.
Simon has breezed through the first two rounds of the Australian Open this year, defeating Robin Haase and Marcel Granollers without dropping a set in either match.
Ferrer's had a bit tougher go of it so far, fighting past Thomaz Bellucci and Sergiy Stakhovsky in four sets each.
The last time these two savvy vets squared off, it was in the third round of the 2014 U.S. Open, which turned out to be a four-set win for Simon that saw Ferrer commit a staggering 52 unforced errors, per the Associated Press (h/t FoxSports.com).
Simon certainly can't count on Ferrer playing another sloppy game against him, so he will need to be at his best to deal with the 32-year-old's agility and supreme return game.
The Frenchman doesn't boast a particularly strong serve, so he will have to win his points in the longer rallies. He could also try to fight Ferrer at the net, considering he's won 31 of 37 points in such a position in this tournament, per AusOpen.com.
This is a difficult matchup for Simon, but the upset isn't unprecedented and could weigh heavy on the mind of Ferrer. However, the Spaniard's been in strong form to start 2015, going 5-0 in the buildup to this tournament and winning the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in the process.
Look for Ferrer to wear Simon down and take this in four brutal sets.
Prediction: Ferrer in four sets
No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. No. 30 Varvara Lepchenko
The wide gap in seeding might spell immediate doom for Varvara Lepchenko, but one should look to recent history as to why this could be the top women's seeded matchup on Day 6.
Sixth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska might own a 5-2 career record against her American opponent, but those two losses came in their last two meetings, both of them on hard courts and both taking three sets to finish.
This is good news for tennis fans looking for a top-tier matchup in the next round, and even better for American fans, who have few heroes to root for in the men's bracket but can often expect domination on the women's side with the likes of the Williams sisters and upstarts such as Lepchenko.
Of course, now might be an inopportune time to stand in Radwanska's path, as she's ruthlessly discarded her first two opponents in this edition of the Aussie Open.
After tossing off Kurumi Nara 6-3, 6-0 in the first round, Radwanska ripped through Johanna Larsson in the second, winning 6-0, 6-1 in a blistering 44 minutes.
She could be the player to watch in a gutted bracket outside of No. 1 Serena Williams and Sharapova. Radwanska is also benefiting from a new coach in Martina Navratilova, who gave the lowdown on her abilities to Christopher Clarey of The New York Times:
"I’ve thought about a bunch of players, and she definitely would have been one of them because she has got all the shots. It’s not like I need to teach her the shots, maybe more when to use them. Different players bring different challenges, but she was definitely on my radar. I just didn’t think she would ask. I wasn’t going to pursue anybody, but if it happened, it happened, and if it didn’t, then it didn’t. I figured it would happen eventually.
"
ESPN's Chris Fowler also couldn't help but notice it's been a strong overall tournament for players coached by Tennis Channel commentators:
The 28-year-old Lepchenko has yet to drop a set in this tournament, but she can't claim to be nearly as overpowering as Radwanska, although her second-round win over crowd-favorite Australian Ajla Tomljanovic is something to build upon.
It's probably the furthest thing from her mind, but she could also perhaps finagle a clothing sponsorship with this win, via Clarey:
In a tournament rife with upsets on the women's side, Lepchenko has a great shot at scoring another win for the underdogs against Radwanska. However, the latter's form is imperious at this point and should be enough to carry her to victory and another step closer to her first Grand Slam title.
Prediction: Radwanska in three sets
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