{"id":6155,"date":"2018-01-18T17:07:25","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T22:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=6155"},"modified":"2018-01-18T17:07:25","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T22:07:25","slug":"andreas-seppi-sneakily-overachiving-melbourne-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2018\/01\/18\/andreas-seppi-sneakily-overachiving-melbourne-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Andreas Seppi is Sneakily Overachiving Again at Melbourne Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

After four days of play, the number of men who still aspire to hoist the Australian Open<\/a> singles trophy has been trimmed down to 32. I would like to pay tribute to one of those survivors, an overlooked player who has consistently performed like a star in Melbourne over the last few years: Andreas Seppi.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old is probably the antithesis of a fan favorite among locals. No pun intended, but the Aussies should not be very fond of a dude who has defeated home idols in Lleyton Hewitt (2014) and Nick Kyrgios (2017), aside from a humongous upset over Roger Federer in 2015.<\/p>\n

Seppi entered this week with a ho-hum 327-350 career record<\/a> on tour. At the Grand Slam level, the Italian stands at 53-50 at the time of writing, barely hovering over .500 on the back of strong showings Down Under in recent seasons.<\/p>\n

Per Tennis Abstract<\/a>, prior to 2013, Seppi had a weak 3-7 win\/loss record in Melbourne. However, a mysterious switch was flipped five years ago that, before his R32 duel versus Ivo Karlovic this year, the Italian owns a robust 17-12 record. In other words, the Bolzano native has collected a whopping 14 wins in five years.<\/p>\n

Sensational results at the Australian Open since 2013<\/h2>\n

The overachieving pattern is so bizarre it deserves to be examined more thoroughly.<\/p>\n

In 2013, No. 21 seed Seppi beat Horacio Zeballos, Denis Istomin, and No. 12 Marin Cilic <\/strong>before crashing out to Jeremy Chardy in the round of 16.<\/p>\n

A year later, this time seeded No. 24, Seppi ousted Lleyton Hewitt<\/strong> before falling to Donald Young. Sure, this five set loss could be seen as a dud. Or perhaps the exception that confirms the rule. However, if we dig deeper into the stats of the match on Tennis Abstract, the Italian posted a 1.10 dominance rate over the American. The superior player was unlucky. It happens.<\/p>\n

In 2015, world No. 46 Seppi upended Denis Istomin, No. 29 Jeremy Chardy, and No. 2<\/strong> Roger Federer <\/strong>en route to a 8-6 in the fifth thriller loss to Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, No. 28 favorite Seppi dismantled Teymuraz Gabashvili and Denis Kudla before succumbing versus No. 1 Novak Djokovic at his peak 6-1 7-5 7-6.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Seppi showed up with limited aspirations, having plummeted to No. 89 in the world rankings. Yet, he managed to defeat Paul Henri Mathieu, No. 14 Nick Kyrgios<\/strong>, and Steve Darcis, narrowly conceding a triple tiebreak loss against No. 4 Stan Wawrinka.<\/p>\n

Why not play a Challenger the week before a Slam?<\/h2>\n

Seppi failed to qualify for the Doha main draw in his season debut. He lost in Qatar to the unheralded Mirza Basic from Bosnia & Herzegovina. The week after, rather than taking part in one of the two tour-level warm-up events like Sydney or Auckland, Seppi gained momentum with a title at the Canberra Challenger<\/a> after saving a match point in the first round against Maximilian Marterer.<\/p>\n

The end seemed to be knocking on the door. But here he is again, under the radar, in the third round after beating French 18-year-old wild card Corentin Moutet and the speedy Yoshihito Nishioka. Going forward, Seppi appears to have a winnable pathway following premature losses by seeded players in his section such as Jack Sock, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Lucas Pouille, and Kevin Anderson.<\/p>\n

Karlovic and either Kyle Edmund or Nikoloz Basilashvili are the only obstacles standing between Seppi and his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal. You read that correctly.<\/p>\n

Main Photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>