2022 AUSTRALIAN OPENDAY 2 MEN’S NOTES

2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 2 MEN’S NOTES Tuesday 18 January 1st Round Bottom Half Featured matches No. 2 Daniil Medvedev (RUS) v Henri Laaksonen (SUI) Page 2 No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) v Mikael Ymer (SWE) Page 5 No. 5 Andrey Rublev (RUS) v Gianluca Mager (ITA) Page 8 No. 8 Casper Ruud (NOR) v Alex Molcan (SVK) Page 10 No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) v Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN) Page 12 No. 11 Jannik Sinner (ITA) v (LL) Joao Sousa (POR) Page 14 No. 13 Diego Schwartzman (ARG) v Filip Krajinovic (SRB) Page 16 No. 21 Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) v (WC) Andy Murray (GBR) Page 18 No. 32 Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) Page 21 Steve Johnson (USA) v Jordan Thompson (AUS) Page 23 Alexei Popyrin (AUS) v Arthur Rinderknech (FRA) Page 25 (Q) Liam Broady (GBR) v Nick Kyrgios (AUS) Page 27 On court today… • 2021 Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev returns to Rod Laver Arena today, with the world No. 2 taking on Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen in the 3rd match of the day. Medvedev is the highestranked player in the draw following Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal and will know that he has an excellent opportunity to become the first Russian man to win the title here since Marat Safin in 2005. After winning his first Grand Slam title at the US Open last year, he could also become the first man in the Open Era to win his 2nd major title on his next Grand Slam appearance. Laaksonen must record his first victory against a Top 5 player if he is to progress today. • Two-time Australian Open semifinalist Stefanos Tsitsipas headlines the night session on RLA this evening, with the No. 4 seed up against Mikael Ymer. Tsitsipas dropped just 6 games when the pair met in the 3rd round here last year, and he will hope for a similarly emphatic performance this evening as he aims to advance to the 2nd round here for the 4th straight year. Like Laaksonen, Ymer is bidding to record his first victory against a Top 5 player in tonight’s match. • Five-time finalist Andy Murray plays his first match here since 2019 on John Cain Arena today, facing Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili for the 2nd time in a week. Murray won the pair’s meeting in the 2nd round at Sydney last Wednesday and went on to reach his first Tour-level final since 2019, falling to Aslan Karatsev in the title match. Murray also won the pair’s only other previous meeting at Wimbledon last year – and stands to make a piece of history should he record a 3rd victory against the Georgian today. Murray is aiming for his 49th match-win at the Australian Open, which would see him claim sole ownership of 5th place on the list for most victories here in the Open Era, ahead of Andre Agassi and Ivan Lendl. • Australia’s Nick Kyrgios will contest the final match of the day on JCA, with the home favourite taking on British qualifier Liam Broady. Kyrgios has played sporadically since the pandemic hit, but remains capable of competing against the very best in the sport – and will hope for a strong run here this year after a narrow 5-set defeat to then-world No. 3 Dominic Thiem in the 3rd round in 2021. Kyrgios has lost in the 1st round here just once before, and has won his only previous match against a qualifier at the Australian Open, having recorded a comfortable win against qualifier Frederico Ferreira Silva at this stage last year. 2 2022 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 2 MEN’S MATCH NOTES NO. 2 DANIIL MEDVEDEV (RUS) v HENRI LAAKSONEN (SUI) Tour-level head-to-head: Medvedev leads 1-0 2016 Switzerland F2 Futures Carpet (I) QF Medvedev 36 63 64 2019 Davis Cup Qualifiers Hard (I) M1 Medvedev 76(8) 67(6) 62 A 2nd Tour-level meeting for Medvedev and Laaksonen. Medvedev won their only Tour-level meeting, the opening match of Russia’s victory over Switzerland in the 2019 Davis Cup Qualifiers, and also won the only time the pair met below Tour-level, at a Futures event in 2016. Medvedev has lost Grand Slam matches to players ranked as low as No. 91 Laaksonen on 3 occasions – to No. 131 Ernesto Escobedo in the 1st round on his Grand Slam debut here in 2017, to No. 266 Benjamin Bonzi in the 1st round at 2017 Roland Garros and to No. 124 Ruben Bemelmans in the 2nd round at 2017 Wimbledon.