Australian Open 2016: Tuesday Schedule, Melbourne Bracket Matchup Predictions
If your New Year's resolution was to watch more tennis, you can't miss out on the first Grand Slam event of the calendar year.
The 2016 Australian Open completes its first round of men's and women's singles play on Tuesday. While casual fans might dismiss the early rounds of majors for their predictability, Day 1 of the tournament already saw some notable results, including quick exits for No. 16 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 17 Sara Errani and No. 24 Sloane Stephens in the women's bracket.
Several of the sport's biggest stars are in play on Tuesday. Perhaps more shocking results are on the way. Here's a rundown of the singles draw schedule and predictions for Day 2.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
| Time (ET) | Round | TV |
| 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. | First Round | Tennis Channel |
| 9 p.m. - 7 a.m. | First Round | ESPN2 |
| No. 5 Rafael Nadal vs. Fernando Verdasco | Nadal | Anett Kontaveit vs. No. 3 Garbine Muguruza | Muguruza | |
| James Duckworth vs. Lleyton Hewitt | Hewitt | No. 8 Venus Williams vs. Johanna Konta | Williams | |
| Alexander Zverev vs. No. 2 Andy Murray | Murray | No. 14 Victoria Azarenka vs. Alison Van Uytvanck | Azarenka | |
| Dmitry Tursunov vs. No. 4 Stan Wawrinka | Wawrinka | No. 15 Madison Keys vs. Zarina Diyas | Keys | |
| Adrian Mannarino vs. Sam Groth | Groth | Anastasija Sevastova vs. Jarmila Wolfe | Wolfe | |
| No. 16 Bernard Tomic vs. Denis Istomin | Tomic | Shuai Zhang vs. No. 2 Simona Halep | Halep | |
| No. 13 Milos Raonic vs. Lucas Pouille | Raonic | Kimberly Birrell vs. No. 9 Karolina Pliskova | Pliskova | |
| Jerzy Janowicz vs. No. 10 John Isner | Isner | Tammi Patterson vs. No. 20 Ana Ivanovic | Ivanovic | |
| Rajeev Ram vs. No. 11 Kevin Anderson | Anderson | No. 19 Jelena Jankovic vs. Polona Hercog | Jankovic | |
| No. 8 David Ferrer vs. Peter Gojowczyk | Ferrer | No. 7 Angelique Kerber vs. Misaki Doi | Kerber | |
| Santiago Giraldo vs. Donald Young | Young | No. 21 Ekaterina Makarova vs. Maddison Inglis | Makarova | |
| Marco Cecchinato vs. Nicolas Mahut | Mahut | Petra Cetkovska vs. No. 30 Sabine Lisicki | Cetkovska | |
| John Millman vs. Diego Schwartzman | Schwartzman | Kirsten Flipkens vs. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni | Lucic-Baroni | |
| No. 23 Gael Monfils vs. Yuichi Sugita | Monfils | No. 32 Caroline Garcia vs. Barbora Strycova | Garcia | |
| Matthew Ebden vs. Marcel Granollers | Granollers | Bojana Jovanovski vs. Alize Cornet | Cornet | |
| Thomaz Bellucci vs. Jordan Thompson | Bellucci | Priscilla Hon vs. Annika Beck | Hon | |
| Gilles Muller vs. No. 20 Fabio Fognini | Muller | Storm Sanders vs. Alexandra Dulgheru | Dulgheru | |
| Taro Daniel vs. Lukas Rosol | Rosol | Naomi Osaka vs. Donna Vekic | Osaka | |
| Steve Darcis vs. Guido Pella | Carina Witthoeft vs. Saisai Zheng | Zheng | ||
| Simone Bolelli vs. Brian Baker | Bolelli | Laura Siegemund vs. Kiki Bertens | Bertens | |
| No. 19 Feliciano Lopez vs. Daniel Evans | Lopez | Katerina Siniakova vs. No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky | Bacsinszky | |
| Aljaz Bedene vs. No. 31 Steve Johnson | Johnson | Bethanie Mattek-Sands vs. Denisa Allertova | Mattek-Sands | |
| Malek Jaziri vs. Tommy Robredo | Robredo | Mona Barthel vs. Vania King | King | |
| No. 25 Jack Sock vs. Taylor Fritz | Sock | Madison Brengle vs. Coco Vandeweghe | Vandeweghe | |
| No. 32 Joao Sousa vs. Mikhail Kukushkin | Sousa | Victoria Duval vs. No. 18 Elina Svitolina | Svitolina | |
| Benjamin Becker vs. Dudi Sela | Becker | Samantha Crawford vs. Danka Kovinic | Kovinic | |
| Ernests Gulbis vs. No. 30 Jeremy Chardy | Chardy | Andreea Mitu vs. Julia Goerges | Goerges | |
| Daniel Munoz De La Nava vs. No. 21 Viktor Troicki | Troicki | Johanna Larsson vs. No. 29 Irina-Camelia Begu | Begu | |
| Stephane Robert vs. Bjorn Fratangelo | Fratangelo | Tatjana Maria vs. Olga Govortsova | Govortsova | |
| Tatsuma Ito vs. Radek Stepanek | Ito | No. 31 Lesia Tsurenko vs. Varvara Lepchenko | Lepchenko | |
| Ryan Harrison vs. Andrey Kuznetsov | Kuznetsov | Tsvetana Pironkova vs. Yaroslava Shvedova | Pironkova | |
| Daniel Gimeno-Traver vs. Tim Smyczek | Gimeno-Traver | Lara Arruabarrena vs. Maryna Zanevska | Arruabarrena |
Note: A complete look at the schedule of play can be found at AUSOpen.com. For live streams of specific courts and matches, check out WatchESPN.
Players to Watch on Tuesday
No. 3 Garbine Muguruza
It's good to be Garbine Muguruza right now. The 22-year-old rising star had a banner year in 2015, notching or tying her personal-best finishes at each Grand Slam, including a finals appearance against the great Serena Williams at Wimbledon. She also won her second career title at the 2015 China Open in October.
There are talks of Muguruza perhaps reaching No. 1 in the world someday. It appears Muguruza isn't buying into her own hype.
“Every time I hear (it) I’m like ‘puhhhhh, yeah, whatever.' I really don’t know what to say. I feel good when people think that I can do it, but I’m like, ‘yeah, we’ll see,'” she told Sunday’s Melbourne Age newspaper, via SkySports.com.
A level-headed approach to the game and her rising fame is probably a good thing. As good as 2015 was for Muguruza, observers are surely expecting better in 2016. Muguruza has reached the fourth round at each of the last two Aussie Opens. She's quelled concerns about a foot injury that forced her to retire from a match with Varvara Lepchenko in Brisbane earlier this month.
"My foot is good,” she said, per AUSOpen.com's Dan Imhoff. “I had time to recover from Brisbane. I needed a couple of days to rest. Yeah, it's improving.”
Assuming she's healthy, anything less than a quarterfinals appearance will likely be seen as a failure.
No. 15 Madison Keys
Speaking of players tipped to take the throne from Serena Williams, Madison Keys is also in action on Tuesday. The 20-year-old has already scored some notable wins in her career, and as a rising American star, she often gets lumped into conversations regarding the Williams sisters and their eventual successors.
She's made steady progress in her career, but ESPNW's Nick McCarvel notes the outlook for 2016 isn't all roses:
"What kind of year 2016 will be for her is unclear, however. She split with coach Lindsay Davenport (amicably) at the end of last season, and injuries have cropped up all too often. This last week she pulled out of Sydney because of a left elbow injury. The recent injury list is long: left wrist, right shoulder, left adductor.
"
If Keys isn't yet at full strength, it helps that she could have an easy first-round match ahead of her against Zarina Diyas. The 22-year-old is ranked No. 57 in the world, but she struggled through much of last year, amassing a 19-27 record in singles play. Diyas is already 1-2 in 2016.
Keys hasn't played Diyas yet in her career but has the power and speed to overwhelm her opponent. She can alleviate concerns about her status going into the year with a strong start to the Australian Open.
No. 4 Stan Wawrinka
Novak Djokovic has won four of the last five Australian Opens in the men's singles bracket. The one blip on the radar came in 2014, when Stan Wawrinka beat Rafael Nadal in the final for his first career Grand Slam.
Wawrinka figures to again be one of the top threats to win the tournament this year. He reached the semifinals last year, losing to Djokovic in five sets.
He did get revenge and beat Djokovic in the French Open last year. In fact, Jacob Steinberg of the Guardian notes Wawrinka has "recorded wins over every other player in the top four last year."
There is no kryptonite for Wawrinka in Australia. He's one to keep an eye on throughout the tournament, even if he has what should be a breezy matchup against world No. 265 Dmitry Tursunov in the first round.
No. 5 Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal failed to win a single Grand Slam in 2015, ending a decade-long string of success that saw him rack up 14 majors titles, nine of them in his preferred clay-court environment of the French Open.
Poor form and injuries plagued Nadal for much of the year, though he did finish the year on a strong note by reaching the finals of the China Open and Swiss Indoors tournaments. Some might be sick of the constant presence of Nadal, Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray at the top of the men's rankings, but the sport is better with a healthy, effective Nadal.
His aggressive, relentless playing style often brings out the best in his opponents. Nadal is a frenzy of activity and a brilliant shotmaker when all systems are go. He'll be hoping his body doesn't betray him in Australia as he looks to win the tournament for the second time in his career.
Even if you're not totally invested in Nadal as a player, you might want to just tune in for the quality tennis on display. ESPN.com's Peter Bodo pegs Nadal taking on fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco as the best matchup of the first round:
"This is not the first round that the fifth-seeded Nadal, still rebuilding his confidence from a frustrating 2015, would have wished for. The Spanish lefties played one of the greatest matches in the tournament's history in 2009, a semifinal epic finally won by Nadal 6-4 in the fifth set. Nadal leads his mercurial rival 14-2, but they were 1-1 in 2015. Verdasco, down to No. 47 but once No. 7 in the world, won their hard-court encounter in Miami last March.
"
Verdasco actually represents a real first-round litmus test for Nadal. How he performs on Tuesday could say quite a bit about his form and mental fitness at the start of a new year, and an upset is very much on the table.
Lleyton Hewitt
Love him or hate him, Lleyton Hewitt's last Australian Open is a momentous occasion. The youngest player ever to reach world No. 1, Hewitt has courted controversy over the years but almost always has impressed with his nails-tough playing style and dogged determination.
The 34-year-old Australian hasn't had too much success in his home country's biggest tournament. His best finish was a lone finals appearance in 2005. The hard courts in Melbourne have been especially unkind to him as of late; Hewitt has failed to escape the first round in four of the last seven years.
Hewitt takes on compatriot James Duckworth on Tuesday. His first match of this year's tournament could very well be his last ever here.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
