{"id":63165,"date":"2024-01-19T22:24:26","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T03:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=63165"},"modified":"2024-01-19T22:24:26","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T03:24:26","slug":"saturday-at-the-australian-open-three-matches-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2024\/01\/19\/saturday-at-the-australian-open-three-matches-to-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday At The Australian Open: Three Matches To Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s the middle Saturday of the Australian Open and there are some great matches to choose from. On an action-packed day, we&#8217;ve picked out our three favorite match-ups to break out the popcorn.<\/p>\n<h2>Saturday At The Australian Open<\/h2>\n<h4 class=\"p1\">Daniil Medvedev vs Felix Auger-Aliassime<\/h4>\n<p>Two years ago, Medvedev lost from two sets up <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/01\/30\/rafael-nadal-record-21st-grand-slam-title\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">against Nadal in the final<\/a>. Swings and roundabouts, though, as he actually came back from two sets down against Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round, saving a match point along the way.<\/p>\n<p>Auger-Aliassime isn&#8217;t the same force he was then, but the conditions suit him here in Melbourne, and he&#8217;s capable of some jaw-dropping passages of play if he&#8217;s feeling it.<\/p>\n<p>Medvedev&#8217;s just come back from two sets to love down against Ruusuvuori. His slight drop in form should level the playing field here to invite plenty of drama.<\/p>\n<p>Be sure not to miss it! It\u2019s not before 7 pm Melbourne time, kicking off the night session inside Margaret Court Arena.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"cFzrhIMlT3N-8gxfuOiaDA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1942218913\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'cFzrhIMlT3N-8gxfuOiaDA',sig:'exZGZXkBOOn8svI65JrgKAfQ85xsoACdkv9Qu0oxPnw=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1942218913',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"p1\">Jelena Ostapenko vs Victoria Azarenka<\/h4>\n<p>Ostapenko extends her winning streak to seven in a row, playing consistently despite hitting the ball with the power of a cannon. She&#8217;ll really be up against it here, however, as she takes on Victoria Azarenka.<\/p>\n<p>At first glance, Azarenka&#8217;s not in the form to keep up with the Latvian, but don&#8217;t be fooled. The former world No. 1 is extremely comfortable Down Under, having made the semifinals here last year, and has starred in some of the best matches of last year.<\/p>\n<p>The level should be high, so make sure you watch the match scheduled not before 2 pm Melbourne time inside Margaret Court Arena.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"1XyapWd4QDFYlmMH7auSjQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1935147782\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'1XyapWd4QDFYlmMH7auSjQ',sig:'C5b8-JHNIqATiKIVYzstpD7OmDtpqTxAS9cyk8VBj9A=',w:'594px',h:'363px',items:'1935147782',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"p1\">Juncheng Shang vs Carlos Alcaraz<\/h4>\n<p>Though Alcaraz may win this match, we have a hunch Jerry Shang is going to put on a show. He has a phenomenal peak to his game when he&#8217;s swinging freely. With absolutely nothing to lose, we think he&#8217;ll raise the roof with some of his shot-making.<\/p>\n<p>As Shang&#8217;s level rises, the world No. 2&#8217;s level will almost certainly rise as well. Expect Alcaraz to attempt to out-pace the 18-year-old with some phenomenal tennis.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re seriously excited about this one. The match is due to start not before 1.15 pm Melbourne time inside Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Main Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran &#8211; USA TODAY Sports<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s the middle Saturday of the Australian Open and there are some great matches to choose from. On an action-packed day, we&#8217;ve picked out our three favorite match-ups to break out the popcorn. Saturday At The Australian Open Daniil Medvedev vs Felix Auger-Aliassime Two years ago, Medvedev lost from two sets up against Nadal in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3704,"featured_media":59669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[41812,205,5729,498,1219,473,17300,393],"class_list":["post-63165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australian-open","tag-2024-australian-open","tag-australian-open","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-daniil-medvedev","tag-felix-auger-aliassime","tag-jelena-ostapenko","tag-juncheng-shang","tag-victoria-azarenka"],"modified_by":"Shane Black","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3704"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}