It’s out of the frying pan and into a surprising new fire for Dimitrov. Two days after recording perhaps the most clutch win of his career, over Nick Kyrgios, he’ll have to face an opponent in Edmund who is playing the best tennis of his life—and who, if anything, will belt the ball even bigger than Kyrgios did. Dimitrov and Edmund have met twice, including three weeks ago in Brisbane—you may remember Dimitrov doing his best Michael-Jordan-rising-up-for-a-dunk imitation as he hurdled the net and came to an ailing Edmund’s aide.
Both that match, and their previous one in Washington, D.C., last year, went three sets. Edmund will get a look at his shots, and after two five-set wins in the first week, he won’t give in easily. Dimitrov said he found another gear against Kyrgios; he may have to stay there to win this one. Winner: Dimitrov
We’ve heard a lot about the bullet that Wozniacki dodged in the second round, when she saved two match points and came back from 1-5 down in the third set against Jana Fett. Since then, she has played with the easy confidence of a player who has been given a second lease on life. This time, though, Wozniacki will face an opponent who may feel much the same way. In her last match, Suarez Navarro looked all but toast when she was down 6-4, 4-1 to Anett Kontaveit. But the Spaniard reeled off five straight games for the set, and then completed a double comeback when, with Kontaveit serving for the match at 5-4 in the third, she broke and went on to win 8-6.
As far as their head-to-head goes, Wozniacki has the edge; she leads 4-2 overall, and has won all three of their meetings on hard courts. It also helps that she played her very best aggressive tennis in her last match, against Magdalena Rybarikova. If Caro attacks that way this time, Carla won’t be coming back from the dead again. Winner: Wozniacki
Read Joel Drucker and Nina Pantic on TENNIS.com as they report from the Australian Open, and watch them each day on The Daily Mix:
