Australian Open
Last year’s finalist Dominic Thiem meets Mikhail Kukuschkin in the first round of the Australian Open. He has never played against the Kazakhs on the ATP tour. In the draw in Melbourne on Friday, the Lower Austrian was placed as number three in the upper half of the grid, in that of the top-ranked defending champion Novak Djokovic.
Against the Serbs, there could be a new edition of the 2020 final in the semifinals. In an advance to the round of 16, the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta (15) or the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (18) could be Thiem’s first opponent in the course of the tournament. His quarter-final opponent on paper would be Diego Schwartzman, who is eighth.
Thiem lost to the Argentine in October in the Frech Open quarter-finals. The 27-year-old Thiem will play for the first time against the opening opponent Kukuschkin. The 33-year-old from Nur-Sultan is currently in 90th place in the world rankings.
Premiere duel for Novak too
Dennis Novak meets the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the number 32. This duel has not yet taken place on the tour. The 32-year-old is in 35th place in the ranking and is the favorite against the 27-year-old from Lower Austria.
Thiem and Novak will contest their dress rehearsals for the Australian Open in the ATP Cup against France on Friday. These start on Monday after a CoV-related three-week delay.
