Australian Open 2017: Sunday Schedule, Matchup Predictions for Melbourne Bracket

The fourth round of the 2017 Australian Open starts Sunday at Melbourne Park, and there are already several high-profile players out of championship contention. Novak Djokovic, Simona Halep and Agnieszka Radwanska are among the notable names sent packing early in the season's first major.

That said, there's still plenty of star power left in both draws. The men's action on Day 7 is highlighted by Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. Meanwhile, Angelique Kerber, Venus Williams and Garbine Muguruza will look to reach the quarterfinals in the women's bracket.

Let's check out all of the important details for Sunday's play. That's followed by a look at the match schedule and a preview for a couple of the marquee matchups on tap during the first half of Round 4.

Day 7 Viewing Information

Where: Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia

Start Time: Saturday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. ET (Sunday, Jan. 22 at 11 a.m. AEDT)

Watch: Tennis Channel (7 p.m. — 9 p.m.) and ESPN2 (9 p.m. — 7 a.m.)

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Sunday Schedule

Court	Matchup	Order
Rod Laver Arena	(8) Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. (24) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	1st
Rod Laver Arena	(13) Venus Williams vs. Mona Barthel	2nd
Rod Laver Arena	(1) Andy Murray vs. Mischa Zverev	3rd
Rod Laver Arena	(5) Kei Nishikori vs. (17) Roger Federer	4th
Rod Laver Arena	(1) Angelique Kerber vs. Coco Vandeweghe	5th
Margaret Court Arena	(4) Stan Wawrinka vs. Andreas Seppi	3rd
Margaret Court Arena	(7) Garbine Muguruza vs. Sorana Cirstea	4th
Hisense Arena	(12) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Daniel Evans	4th

Predictions for Top Matches

Men's: (5) Kei Nishikori vs. (17) Roger Federer

It was hard to know what to expect from Federer in his first true test since his 2016 campaign came to a premature end due to a knee injury. His play through three rounds has provided plenty of reason for optimism, with flashes of vintage form and generally strong play.

After dropping just one set through the first two matches, he crushed 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych in straight sets to punch his ticket to the fourth round. The Fed Express was on cruise control with 40 winners and eight aces compared to 17 unforced errors and two double faults.

Even Federer admitted following the lopsided victory that he was surprised by the result, per Vivienne Christie of the Australian Open's official website.

"I didn't expect it as such, to be honest, especially not this kind of a scoreline, especially not having to save (any) breakpoints, just always rolling on the serve," he said. "I think it was a great mental test for me to see if I could stay, you know, in the match point for point, keep rolling. I was able to do that. That's where I'm just really happy that I was able to deliver that."

A similar outing against Nishikori would cause the 35-year-old superstar's stock to rocket, both in terms of winning this tournament and his chances of being a serious threat throughout 2017.

Josh Meiseles of the ATP World Tour noted a victory would also result in another milestone in a career that's been full of them:

On the opposite side of the net, Nishikori has settled in nicely after narrowly escaping a five-set upset bid by Andrey Kuznetsov in Round 1. The No. 5 seed has responded by knocking off Jeremy Chardy and Lukas Lacko in straight sets.

His results against Federer haven't been quite as favorable in recent meetings. His Sunday counterpart holds the 4-2 advantage, including three straight wins while dropping just one set. They haven't faced each other since the 2015 ATP World Tour Finals, though.

Federer's groundstrokes are the key this time around. This will be a far more defensive battle than his romp of Berdych, featuring no shortage of extended rallies, so his efficiency off both wings is essential if he's going to keep his rapidly improving title hopes alive.

Ultimately, expectations for the Swiss sensation were much lower than normal coming into the Australian Open because of his uncertain fitness level. The dimmed spotlight may have helped him focus more on his prep work. But that's gone now, so it'll be interesting to see how he responds.

Pick: Federer in four sets

Women's: (1) Angelique Kerber vs. Coco Vandeweghe

This encounter has upset alert written all over it. Kerber is coming off a strong showing against Kristyna Pliskova, but she was unexpectedly pushed to the limit by unheralded foes Lesia Tsurenko and Carina Witthoft in the first two rounds.

While the top-ranked player in the world has struggled to find her game at times, Vandeweghe has been picking up steam. She opened the tournament by beating No. 15 seed Roberta Vinci and added noteworthy victory over Eugenie Bouchard in the last round.

In addition, the 25-year-old American's confidence is on the rise. When asked about beating Bouchard, who's reached the top five, she stated those are the type of matches she expects herself to win at this point in her career, per Joe McDonald of NY Sports Day.

"This one isn't that high for me," Vandeweghe said. "It was kind of expected, in my mind, to get the win and to get the victory and to move a step closer to achieving what I want to achieve for this year and also this tournament."

Going up against Kerber is a tremendous test of her progress. The German brings an element of power her other opponents in the event haven't possessed, and beating those high-voltage players is the only way to reach the top of the sport.

That said, it helps that the defending champion isn't playing her best tennis, as WTA Addict pointed out:

Kerber has won each of their prior two meetings. The most recent, which came at a 2015 event in China, saw Vandeweghe retire down 1-6, 1-3. But the New York native did win a 6-0 set during their first matchup in 2014.

All told, this has the makings of a match that won't get decided until deep in the third set, barring a major uptick in Kerber's level of play. It should be an exciting cap to Day 7 in the land Down Under, regardless of who earns the quarterfinal berth.

Pick: Kerber in three sets

All match statistics courtesy of the tournament's official website.