Australian Open 2017: Saturday Schedule, Predictions for Melbourne Bracket

For the first time in a long time, there will be no Novak Djokovic heading into the first weekend of a Grand Slam event. 

Djokovic, the No. 2 player in the world, crashed out of the 2017 Australian Open in a second-round loss to unseeded Denis Istomin, who played the match of his life to defeat the brilliant Djokovic. It's Djokovic's earliest exit in a Grand Slam since he lost in the second round at Wimbledon in 2008.

While Djokovic's absence will be missed by some on Saturday, there's still plenty of excellent matchups and elite talent on the schedule. Istomin will look to build on his breathtaking upset, Serena Williams takes on a young American challenger in Nicole Gibbs, and the eternal showman Gael Monfils will take the court as well. 

Here's the Saturday schedule and predictions for each matchup. Live streaming can be found on WatchESPN.

Rod Laver Arena ( 7 p.m. ET Friday)
Rod Laver Arena ( 3 a.m. ET Saturday)
Margaret Court Arena ( 7 p.m. ET Friday)
Margaret Court Arena ( 3 a.m. ET Saturday)
Hisense Arena (Not Before 8 p.m. ET Friday)
Hisense Arena (Not Before 2 a.m. ET Saturday)
Show Court 2 (7 p.m. ET Friday)
Show Court 3 (Not Before 8 p.m. ET Friday)
Matchup	Prediction
No. 6 Dominika Cibulkova vs. No. 30 Ekaterina Makarova	Cibulkova
Nicole Gibbs vs. No. 2 Serena Williams	Williams
No. 24 Alexander Zverev vs. No. 9 Rafael Nadal	Nadal
No. 22 Daria Gavrilova vs. No. 12 Timea Bacsinszky	Gavrilova
No. 15 Grigor Dimitrov vs. No. 18 Richard Gasquet	Dimitrov
No. 16 Barbora Strycova vs. No. 21 Caroline Garcia	Strycova
No. 8 Dominic Thiem vs. Benoit Paire	Thiem
No. 17 Caroline Wozniacki vs. No. 9 Johanna Konta	Konta
No. 6 Gael Monfils vs. No. 32 Philipp Kohlschreiber	Monfils
No. 5 Karolina Pliskova vs. Jelena Ostapenko	Pliskova
No. 20 Ivo Karlovic vs. No. 11 David Goffin	Goffin
No. 25 Gilles Simon vs. No. 3 Milos Raonic	Raonic
No. 14 Elena Vesnina vs. Jennifer Brady	Vesnina
No. 30 Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Denis Istomin	Istomin
Maria Sakkari vs. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni	Sakkari
No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut vs. No. 21 David Ferrer	Ferrer

Istomin's performance against Djokovic is something of an anomaly for the 30-year-old journeyman. Ranked no greater than 33rd in the world in his career and currently at 117th in men's tennis, Istomin has advanced to the third round of the Australian Open just three times and has never ventured past the fourth round in any Grand Slam. 

Djokovic wasn't at his world-beating best on Thursday, but Istomin played out of his mind to upset the brilliant Serbian. Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim noted how the Uzbek deserved plenty of credit for his shocking upset:

"The buzz today—not surprisingly—still focused around Djokovic and his defeat. But let’s dwell on Denis Istomin. The guy hit 63 winners against perhaps the best defensive player in history. At 5-4 in the fifth set, he had the service game of his life and…went five-for-five on first serves. He didn't fatigue after five hours. All credit to this guy."

Ryan Pierse/Associated Press

Istomin will have to pull off another upset if he wants to move on to the fourth round. He'll take on No. 30 Pablo Carreno Busta on Saturday. Istomin is 0-2 against Busta in his career, but both of those losses came on clay courts. Istomin might fare better against the Spaniard on the hard courts of Melbourne, and if he can carry over his form from Thursday, he should be able to make sure this match is nothing less than competitive.

On the women's side, the young Gibbs has the unenviable task of trying derail Williams as the latter looks to win the 23rd Grand Slam title of her career.

Twenty-three years old and competing in just her third Australian Open, Gibbs is playing strong tennis in this tournament, defeating both Timea Babos and Irina Falconi in straight sets to reach the third round. She's unlikely to topple Williams on Saturday, but Gibbs has already earned her opponent's respect for her willingness to speak out on various social issues.

"I really admire her for always speaking out. I think she's such a smart individual. It's so good to see her doing that," per Sport 360's Reem Abulleil.

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

The mutual admiration will be left behind when the two players are facing off across the net, but American tennis fans will want to tune in and see which fiercely competitive player moves on to the next round. 

The supremely athletic Monfils has carved out an excellent career for himself in tennis, thrilling fans with his excellent, tricky shotmaking and ability to slide across the court to make difficult defensive stops.

Though he's never been able to put his myriad gifts together and win a Grand Slam, the sixth-seeded Monfils is in a fine position to do just that in this tournament.

With Djokovic out, Monfils has perhaps the best combination of skill, form and experience on his side of the bracket.

Rafael Nadal has fallen off over the past year or so, Dominic Thiem has yet to venture far into a Grand Slam event and Grigor Dimitrov has struggled with form over the past two years (though he's looked resurgent as of late).

Andy Brownbill/Associated Press

Milos Raonic is a threat, having reached the semifinals in Australia last year, but Monfils wouldn't run into him until the quarterfinals should both players continue their winning ways. 

Monfils hasn't done better than the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, but he did reach the semifinals of the other hard-court Grand Slam, the U.S. Open, in 2016. The sublime crowd-pleaser has a tough task on his hand in No. 32 Philipp Kohlschreiber on Saturday, but if he can continue his strong play, he could set himself on a path to glory in Melbourne.