MELBOURNE: World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray are on a collision course to meet in the third round of the Australian Open.
The draw, held yesterday, showed the possible matchup and also revealed a series of tough first-round contests. The season's first major begins Sunday in Melbourne, Australia.
Defending champion Djokovic, of Serbia, will open his quest for an 11th Australian Open crown against either a lucky loser or a qualifier, while Murray, from Great Britain, starts against Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, the 30th seed.
Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain will take on Richard Gasquet of France, a former top-10 opponent.
Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 3 seed, will be attempting to win his second grand major (U.S. Open, 2021) and is a two-time finalist in Melbourne. With his opponents still to be determined for the first two rounds, he could meet Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round. Auger-Aliassime, must first get past former world No. 3 Dominic Thiem of Austria in the first round.
Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, the No. 7 seed who is on Djokovic's side of the draw, will open against Matteo Berrettini of Italy, once a top-10 player now ranked No. 125.
Fourth seed Jannik Sinner of Italy drew Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands in the first round.
Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, who defeated Rafael Nadal to win the 2014 Australian Open, is the only champion in the field aside from Djokovic. In the first round, he's will meet No. 20 seed Adrian Mannarino of France.--AFP
