Associated Press 9y

3rd rounders & Roger: What to Watch at the Australian Open

Tennis

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Day Five at the Australian Open marks the start of the third round, and the attrition rate has been high. Of the 256 players who started in the men's and women's singles draws, only 64 remain in contention.

For those remaining, it only gets better when the paychecks are handed out -- third-round competitors are guaranteed the equivalent of about US$78,000 before tax, based on current exchange rates between the U.S. and Australian dollars. Winners of the men's and women's singles finals will each receive about $2.5 million.

Here are some things to watch on Friday:

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PERFECT ROGER: Second-seeded Roger Federer dropped a set against Simone Bolelli in his second-round match, the first time the 17-time Grand Slam champion has dropped a set against the Italian. Federer goes into his third-round match against another Italian, Andreas Seppi, with an even bigger advantage -- he's 10-0 career against Seppi, who has only once taken a set. Otherwise, it's been all one-way traffic from Federer's side of the net. Federer believes he's better for having to come back from one-set down against Bolelli, so Seppi could be in for a tough match. "It's always a good feeling fighting your way out of a match, and winning the last three sets convincingly and actually playing really positive tennis," says Federer.

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CONTRASTING SCENARIOS: Third-seeded Simona Halep and seventh-seeded Eugenie Bouchard are listed one after the other in the bottom half of the women's singles draw -- lines 96 and 97 -- but face different roads to a potential semifinal. Halep, who plays American Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Friday, saw her quarter of the draw open up in her favor when fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic was beaten in the first round. Bouchard, who faces Caroline Garcia of France, would potentially have to beat second-seeded Maria Sharapova to get to the semifinals. Both Halep, who lost to Sharapova in last year's French Open final, and Bouchard, who lost to Petra Kvitova in the Wimbledon final, are expecting tough third-round matches. "I played once against her in the French Open few years ago, she's playing well, she's fighting till the end," Halep said of the American. After sitting out six months last year while recovering from hip surgery, Mattek-Sands is into the third round in Australia for the first time. "I've been through so many injury comebacks, you almost don't even think about it," Mattek-Sands said. Bouchard, 20, described Garcia, who is 21, as "a good up-and-comer," adding "it's going to be super tough ... she can have some big shots."

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RECENT RIVALRIES: Grigor Dimitrov is often asked about the rivalries among the new young breed of male players, and those frequently also mentioned are Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori. But the 23-year-old Dimitrov's steadiest regular rivalry has been with the man he'll play Friday -- 29-year-old and 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis. Dimitrov and Baghdatis have met six times since 2011, and Baghdatis' only win came in the second round at Wimbledon in 2012. Getting back to the other rivalry -- and when players like Dimitrov or Nishikori might start making inroads into the major dominance of Novak Djokovic, Federer or Rafael Nadal (who plays Dudi Sela on Friday in the third round), Dimitrov says maybe it's all a bit premature. "Personally for me, I haven't felt that there's a rivalry at the moment to play against one player over and over again," he said. "In general, the year just began. Let it unfold a little bit before we jump into any conclusion."

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AUSSIES IN ACTION: Two of the three remaining Australian men in the singles draw play each other on Friday, with Bernard Tomic taking on Sam Groth, who beat another Aussie, Thanasi Kokkinakis, in the second round. Nick Kyrgios, who beat Nadal in the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, plays Malek Jaziri of Tunisia. An Australian man hasn't won his home Grand Slam since Mark Edmondson beat John Newcombe in 1976.

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Follow Dennis Passa on Twitter: http://twitter.com/DennisPassa

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