Australian Open Day Three Preview: LI’s Rubin Set To Face Federer

January 17, 2017 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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The third day of play down under at the 2017 Australian Open gets underway at 7:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday night offering up plenty of intriguing matches as the second round begins in Melbourne.

The most intriguing matchup for Long Islanders is the third match on to Rod Laver Arena, when Noah Rubin squares off with six-time Australian Open champion Roger Federer in what is the biggest match of the 21-year old’s young career.

“I know he’s a baseliner. He makes a lot of shots. I guess it’s not a bad thing for me,” Federer said of playing Rubin. “I know it’s probably more on my racquet than playing a big server. Regardless, you know, got to manage any kind of player in this draw to move forward.”

Federer enters this matchup with 1,080 career wins on the ATP Tour, while Rubin has just two victories in ATP World Tour main draws, both of which have come at the Australian Open (he defeated 17th seed Benoit Paire last year). Rubin knows he will have to play the best tennis of his live to have a chance against Federer, but will enter the match with confidence and a winning mindset.

“He has a high compete level, so I guarantee he’ll be going into this match with the idea of winning,” said Lawrence Kleger, Rubin’s longtime coach. “But it’s a difficult situation. He’s going to have to serve really well, and return the best ever has.  He’s going to have to do everything at a heightened level to have a chance.”

Prior to Rubin and Federer taking the court, 13th seed American Venus Williams will meet Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele in the day’s first match. Following that, defending champion and top seed Angelique Kerber play Germany’s Carina Witthoeft. Kerber has won both of the previous matches between the two, each of which have come at Wimbledon the past two seasons.

In the two late matches on Rod Laver Arena, French Open champion Garbine Muguruza will square off with American Samantha Crawford, and then world number one Andy Murray will play Russian Andrey Rublev to close out the night session.

Former champion Stan Wawrinka will take on big-hitting American Steve Johnson in his second-round matchup, the third one on Margaret Court Arena. The two have met just once, a straight-sets win by the Swiss at the French Open two years ago.

There will be eight more Americans looking for spots in the third round on Tuesday: John Isner, Jack Sock, Sam Querrey and Ryan Harrison on the men’s side, while Alison Riske, Julia Boserup, Shelby Rogers and Coco Vandeweghe will be competing on the women’s side.

The men’s and women’s doubles main draw begin today as well, and the Williams’ sisters will be playing together as the 15th seeded duo. The pair will play Timea Babos and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in their opening round match.

Mike and Bob Bryan begin their quest for a seventh Australian Open crown, and will take on the Frenchman duo of Benoit Paire and Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round on Wednesday.

Click Here to see the full schedule of day three in Melbourne.


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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