Australian Open 2016: Wednesday Schedule, Predictions for Melbourne Bracket
Chaos reigns early in singles play at the 2016 Australian Open. The first round has already provided several headline-worthy upsets, with more sure to come as the tournament progresses.
On the men's side, Fernando Verdasco sent No. 5 Rafael Nadal crashing out of the first round on Day 2, a sign that Nadal's disappointing 2015 may have been the beginning of the end for the Spaniard rather than a mere slump. Other men's bracket upsets included 19-year-old American Noah Rubin's win over No. 17 Benoit Paire and Gilles Muller's defeat of No. 20 Fabio Fognini.
The women's bracket is littered with upsets. Monday saw the likes of No. 16 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 17 Sara Errani and No. 24 Sloane Stephens sent home early, while Tuesday resulted in No. 2 Simona Halep and No. 8 Venus Williams going down in straight sets.
Wednesday marks the third day of the tournament and beginning of the second round of singles play. Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and more are in action. Here's a look at the TV coverage, matchups and predictions for Day 3.
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| Time (ET) | Round | TV |
| 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. | Second Round | Tennis Channel |
| 9 p.m. - 7 a.m. | Second Round | ESPN2 |
| No. 3 Roger Federer vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov | Federer | Aliaksandra Sasnovich vs. No. 5 Maria Sharapova | Sharapova | |
| No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. Quentin Halys | Djokovic | No. 1 Serena Williams vs. Su-Wei Hsieh | Williams | |
| Austin Krajicek vs. No. 7 Kei Nishikori | Nishikori | No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Eugenie Bouchard | Radwanska | |
| No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Omar Jasika | Tsonga | No. 12 Belinda Bencic vs. Timea Babos | Bencic | |
| Mirza Basic vs. No. 6 Tomas Berdych | Berdych | No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Maria Sakkari | Navarro | |
| No. 29 Nick Kyrgios vs. Pablo Cuevas | Kyrgios | Daria Gavrilova vs. No. 6 Petra Kvitova | Kvitova | |
| Damir Dzumhur vs. No. 15 David Goffin | Goffin | Kateryna Bondarenko vs. No. 23 Svetlana Kuznetsova | Kuznetsova | |
| No. 12 Marin Cilic vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas | Ramos-Vinolas | Irina Falconi vs. No. 13 Roberta Vinci | Falconi | |
| Evgeny Donskoy vs. No. 14 Gilles Simon | Simon | Xinyun Han vs. Yulia Putintseva | Putintseva | |
| Denis Kudla vs. No. 28 Andreas Seppi | Kudla | Lauren Davis vs. Magdalena Rybarikova | Rybarikova | |
| No. 19 Dominic Thiem vs. Nicolas Almagro | Thiem | Monica Niculescu vs. Elizaveta Kulichkova | Niculescu | |
| Marco Trungelliti vs. No. 27 Grigor Dimitrov | Dimitrov | Qiang Wang vs. Anna-Lena Friedsam | Wang | |
| Federico Delbonis vs. Renzo Olivo | Delbonis | No. 28 Kristina Mladenovic vs. Nicole Gibbs | Gibbs | |
| No. 26 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. Daniel Brands | Garcia-Lopez | Margarita Gasparyan vs. Kurumi Nara | Nara | |
| Dusan Lajovic vs. No. 24 Roberto Bautista-Agut | Bautista-Agut | Monica Puig vs. Kristyna Pliskova | Puig | |
| Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs. Noah Rubin | Rubin | Ana Konjuh vs. Daria Kasatkina | Kasatkina |
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.
Top Wednesday Matchup in Each Bracket
No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Eugenie Bouchard
No seeded player is safe in the women's bracket in this Australian Open, including No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska. The Polish star has a tough second-round draw in Eugenie Bouchard, ranked No. 37 in the world.
Bouchard is looking to bounce back from a poor 2015 campaign that was further derailed by a concussion sustained at the U.S. Open. She's off to a strong start this calendar year, sporting an early 7-2 record and reaching the final of the Hobart International, only to lose to Alize Cornet 6-1, 6-2. At 21 years old, Bouchard is confident she can re-open her window of opportunity.
"Deep down I know I still believe in myself,” she said, per Tennis.com's Kamakshi Tandon, “and have those dreams that I know I can achieve.”
Radwanska is in fine form as well, having won the Shenzhen Open on January 9. Both players cruised to easy straight-set wins on Monday. Radwanska won the only head-to-head meeting between the two, a straight-sets win on clay at the 2014 Madrid Open.
Things could be different for Bouchard this time around. She reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2014 and the quarters last year.
Radwanska too has fared well at this tournament, so this is shaping up to be one of the more hotly contested matchups of the second round as Bouchard works her way back to the top and Radwanska looks to continue her excellent form.
No. 29 Nick Kyrgios vs. Pablo Cuevas
With the men's bracket moving along in a relatively predictable fashion and no Wednesday matchups truly standing out from the schedule of play, perhaps it's best to go with the unpredictable, entertaining Nick Kyrgios on Wednesday.
The contentious 20-year-old showed off his considerable gifts in the first round, defeating Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 7-5, 6-2. The Australian Associated Press, via the Guardian, has more on his display:
"The youngster blitzed the Spaniard with a combination of firepower, precision and a deft touch to confirm his status as one of the chief title threats to the dominant defending champion, Novak Djokovic.
“I was striking the ball well from the get-go,” Kyrgios said. “That probably eased me into the match a little bit better than I thought it was going to be out there. Yeah, it was a good win.”
A quarter-finalist last year, Kyrgios barely dropped a point on serve in the opening set, drawing high praise from former world No1 Jim Courier, who lauded the 20-year-old’s second delivery as possibly the best in the game.
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Kyrgios is slotted for the spotlight in the second round, as he'll play an evening match against Pablo Cuevas at Hisense Arena on Day 3. Cuevas is no slouch at No. 41 in the ATP world rankings, 27 spots higher than Busta. Cuevas beat young Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-4 in the first round.
The 30-year old is best on clay courts, but has seen plenty in a solid career and could prove troublesome for Kyrgios should the latter lose focus. As long as the young Australian keeps his wits about him, feeds off the crowd and takes full advantage of his range and strong service game, he should emerge victorious and primed for a deep run in Melbourne.
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