Australian Open draws: Wawrinka, Djokovic pitted in the same half

Federer on course to face Murray in the quarter-finals.

MELBOURNE: Defending champion Stan Wawrinka was yesterday pitted in the top half of the draw at the Australian Open with Novak Djokovic and faces a potential semi-final encounter with the world number one.

The Swiss fourth seed upset Djokovic in the quarter-finals on the way to winning his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne last year.

The Serb top seed is scheduled to face big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic in the quarters, while Wawrinka could meet Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori in the last eight.

Meanwhile Roger Federer, who is chasing an 18th Grand Slam victory at the age of 33, is on course to face Andy Murray in the quarter-finals in the bottom half of the draw.

Murray, a three-time Australian Open runner-up, lost to the Swiss great in the 2010 Melbourne Park final.

Federer, who will face Taipei’s Lu Yen-Hsun in the opening round, is the second seed.

Third seed Rafael Nadal faces a tough first-up opponent in Russian Mikhail Youzhny and could play big-serving Czech Tomas Berdych in the quarters in the bottom half of the draw.

One of the tougher first-round match-ups will see 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who is on the comeback trail from wrist surgery, take on Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz.

Australian warhorse Lleyton Hewitt, playing in his 19th consecutive Australian Open, has drawn Chinese wildcard Zhang Ze in the opening round.

Serena seeded to face Wozniacki quarter-finals

World number one Serena Williams faces a potential rematch of her US Open final against Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

Serena, who is chasing her 19th Grand Slam title in Melbourne, beat Wozniacki in straight sets in New York last year.

The American meets Belgian Alison van Uytvanck in the first round, while second seed Maria Sharapova first faces a qualifier in the tournament beginning on Monday.

Fourth seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who won the Sydney International yesterday, is seeded to face Agnieszka Radwanska in the other quarter-final in the top half of the draw.

Sharapova is projected to face rising Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, while third seed Simona Halep could meet Ana Ivanovic in the other last eight clash in the bottom half of the women’s draw.

The most interesting first-round match up will be between two-time Australian Open champion but unseeded Victoria Azarenka and American Sloane Stephens, a semi-finalist in Melbourne two years ago. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th,  2015.

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