The fourth round of the Australian Open is set and so far things have gone pretty much to form with 10 of the top 11 seeds still alive.   Newcomer, Milos Raonic is one of the few surprises as he very impressively took out Mikhail Youzhny in 4 sets yesterday.   It’s also great to see Jurgen Melzer making the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the fourth consecutive time, after he hadn’t made it that far in his first 31 Grand Slam appearances.   With American John Isner losing in an epic battle to the Croat, Marin Cilic, Andy Roddick remains the only American left in the draw on either side.  Aside from the obvious favorites of Roger and Rafa, 2008 Australian Open champ and recent US Open finalist, Novak Djokovic has looked very solid, as has 2010 Aussie Open finalist, Andy Murray.   In addition, Tomas Berdych and Robin Soderling have looked quite good, as well as previous semi-finalist, Fernardo Verdasco, who struggled in the early part of his second round match against Janko Tipsarevic, but was then able to turn it on and has won his last 6 sets pretty easily.    So below are the fourth round matches, along with my predictions:

 1) Tomas Berdych (6) vs. Fernardo Verdasco (9)

 This should be a very tight match.   Tomas Berdych brings a 6-4 lifetime advantage into the match up and has won their last 4 meetings on hard court, including 9 out of the last 11 sets that they’ve played on the surface.   Berdych has been looking really good so far and I believe the trend will continue, but this time will be closer than in the past.

 Prediction: Berdych in 5 sets.

 

2) Novak Djokovic (3) vs. Nicolas Almagro (14)

 Though Almagro was once thought of as merely a clay court specialist, he has made great strides on hard in the last year or so and is now a familiar name in the third  and fourth rounds of most big tournaments.   Unfortunately, I don’t think he has enough on this surface to really give Djokovic much of a challenge.

 Prediction: Djokovic in 4 sets.

 

3) Andy Roddick (8) vs. Stanislas Wawrinka (19)

 Wawrinka leads their head-to-head match history 2-1, though in both of Roddick’s losses, he retired in the first set.   The second highest ranked Swiss player has yet to drop a set this tournament, beating the highly entertaining Gael Monfils in straights and delivering a first-class bludgeoning to teen sensation, Grigor Dimitrov.   Wawrinka is also coming off of a very strong showing at this past US Open, where he made his first Grand Slam quarterfinals, dispatching Andy Murray en route.   I expect this to be a very entertaining and competitive match, though I like Roddick to prevail in the end.

 Prediction: Roddick in 5 sets.

 

4) Roger Federer  (2) vs. Tommy Robredo

With a 9-0 lifetime match, 21-2 lifetime set, records, against Tommy Robredo, it’s hard to think that Mr. Federer will have any difficult in this match.   This should be smooth sailing for the maestro.

 Prediction: Roger in straights.

 

5) Rafael Nadal (1) vs. Marin Cilic (20)

 The 22 year old Croat certainly has the kind of game that can beat Nadal on this surface, as was the case in their sole meeting in Beijing in 2009.   Taking down potentially the best player of all-time, on the big stage, as he goes for a “Rafa Slam” is another story and after battling for five sets against Isner, I don’t think Cilic will have enough in the tank to prevail, but I’m sure he’ll give Nadal a good challenge.

 Prediction: Nadal in four sets.

 

6) David Ferrer (7) vs. Milos Raonic

It’s been a great run for the 20 year old Canadian, taking out 10th World Ranked, Mikhail Youzhny and 22nd World Ranked, Michael Llodra-certainly the best of his young career. Unfortunately Raonic’s path leads him to the “red hot” Spaniard, David Ferrer.   Ferrer is coming off of a title in Aukland and has looked dominant so far in Melbourne.   I believe Raonic will continue his solid play and push Ferrer in a close match, but in the end, I believe Ferrer’s superior fitness will make the difference.

 Prediction: Ferrer in five sets.

 

7) Robin Soderling (4) vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov

 After falling behind 2 sets to 1 to 2007 Australian Open runner-up, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 45th World Ranked Ukrainian, Alexandr Dolgopolov came back to take the last two sets quite convincingly.   Though Dolgopolov certainly has the tools to make many second weeks at Grand Slams of the future, I don’t see the 22 year old taking out the current World Number 4, who I believe has a real shot to win the whole thing.

 Prediction: Soderling in four sets.

 

8) Andy Murray (5) vs. Jurgen Melzer (11)

 Losing to Stanislas Wawrinka in four sets at this past US Open and losing in straight sets to Marin Cilic at the 2009 US Open, Andy Murray is no stranger to the “big-disappointment-when-being-the-tournament-favorite” syndrome.   This time around, Murray is a lot less in the spot light which could really work in his favor.  On the other hand, his next round opponent, Jurgen Melzer is truly an amazing story.   After being a solid player for years that always falls short on the big stage, Jurgen Melzer finally had a good Grand Slam at the 2010 French Open.   Melzer made it all the way to the semifinals, after beating great clay court players like David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic (after being down 2 sets to love) and respectively getting knocked out by hands-down, the greatest clay court player ever.   In his prior 31 Grand Slams, he hadn’t ever made it out of the third round.   Following the French Open, Melzer very impressively made it to the round of 16 at Wimbledon and the US Open, getting knocked out in both by arguably the best player of all-time in Federer.    Anyway, after dropping the first set to Cypriot, Marcos Baghdatis this last round, Melzer came back strong winning the second and third sets and being up a break in the fourth, before Baghdatis retired.   I think the 11th World Ranked Austrian is just the player to beat Andy Murray and continue his streak of great Grand Slam performances and continue Murray’s streak of Grand Slam disappointments.

Prediction: Melzer in 5 sets.