Day 4 preview: Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic face difficult foes
Stephanie Brantz and Chrissie Evert preview the matches to watch on Day 4 at the Australian Open. (1:52)
MELBOURNE, Australia — It ‘s still only the second round, but the action is starting to heat up at the Australian Open.
Both No. 1 seeds, Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep, have difficult tests on Rod Laver Arena, while Serena Williams and Eugenie Bouchard will need to set aside their mutual admiration in their second-round match.
Bouchard, while trying to avoid “putting [Williams] on too much of a pedestal,” said she “loves” Serena, while Williams was equally as impressed by the Canadian’s recent “fight” to find her form.
Hold on to your hats (and put on some sunscreen), it’s Day 4 of the Australian Open.
Day session
ESPN3 & ESPN+: Starting at 7 p.m. ET
ESPN2: Starting at 9 p.m. ET
Night session
ESPN2: Starting at 3 a.m. ET
*Full Day 4 schedule here
Serena faces tough challenge in former Wimbledon runner-up
Serena Williams hasn’t played many former Grand Slam finalists in the second round majors, but she will Thursday. Her opponent, Eugenie Bouchard, is starting to show signs of the level we saw during her breakout year in 2014.
It’s been nearly five years since Bouchard reached the Wimbledon final, and this season, although early, she’s reminding us why. In Auckland, she reached the quarterfinals in the singles draw and won the doubles title with partner Sofia Kenin.
Bouchard sports a 13-5 record at the Australian Open, her best winning percent of any Slam.
Raonic, Wawrinka face off in hard-hitting second-round clash
Two nights after taking out Nick Kyrgios in the first round here, 16th seed Milos Raonic isn’t receiving any kind of break. He will be squaring off against three-time Slam winner Stanislas Wawrinka.
Ranked as low as 263 in the world in June last year after battling a series of chronic knee issues in 2017 and 2018, Wawrinka started to show great form in the back half of the 2018 season.
Currently ranked No. 53, the 2014 Australian Open winner may be a handful for Raonic, though the Canadian can take solace in his straight-sets win over Wawrinka at last year’s US Open.
No. 1 seeds to face stiff early tests
She narrowly avoided a first-round setback, but the first week of the Open isn’t getting easier for No. 1 seed Simona Halep. After already staving off a firm challenge from Kaia Kanepi, Halep faces up-and-coming American Sofia Kenin on Thursday.
Kenin, 20, has improved from 57th in the world to 37th. Earlier this year, she won her maiden WTA trophy, in Hobart, defeating Caroline Garcia, Kirsten Flipkens and Alize Cornet along the way.
In a rematch of the 2008 final here, men’s No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The Frenchman is a hasn’t fallen before the third round since 2007. But then again, Djokovic is a six-time Aussie Open winner.