Australian Open’s Day 4 offers plenty of action and we are going to preview 2 matches of the packed action

(8) David Ferrer v (WC) Lleyton Hewitt

This match may well be Lleyton’s farewell one… He survived to live another day with a 3 set victory over compatriot James Ducksworth.

‘I felt pretty good. I was pretty pumped up before I went on. I think I was able to block out everything else once I was out there. Obviously you get asked the same questions for quite a few months leading into this tournament, then it’s there, and you don’t fully know how you’re going to react until you’re out there on the match court. I think I had my game face on. Yeah, it might have been in the back of my mind a couple of times, but I was focused, ready, competitive, I guess, to get out there and hopefully get past the line.’

I want six (matches) more. But, you know, just take it one match at a time. I do all the right things. I’ve prided myself my whole career on preparing as well as possible and doing all the one percenters to try and get the best result possible. I’ll do that again. If it doesn’t go my way the next match, then so be it. Everything in my control. I’m going out there to give it my best shot.

If he wants this farewell tour to continue for at least 1 more round he has to fend off against the evry tricky and competitive David Ferrer

He’s like a brick wall out there,” Hewitt said of Ferrer.

“He competes as well as anyone on tour. Everyone thinks he just makes balls but he’s a pretty aggressive baseliner.

“He’s been just under winning that Grand Slam … especially on clay and hard court, he’s a pretty tough customer.

“Yeah, I give myself a fighting chance. It’s going to be tough, I know that. But I feel like I’m hitting the ball well enough to go out there and give him a good run.”
This is only the 4-th meeting between these two and first one since the US Open in 2012, a 4 set win for the Spaniard.

Ferrer lost in the 4-th round in Melbourne Park last year, after a SF and QF appearance in the previous couple of years, while Lleyton hasn’t gone passed the 2nd round in the last 3 editions of his home event.
The Australian hasn’t been that big of an underdog (6.80 in Pinnacle by time of publication) since March last year, and has 2-8 record in price range of 6.00+ ,scoring upsets against Del Potro and Federer 3 years ago…

(q) Stephane Robert v Rajeev Ram

Unpopular match to take a look in,given theplayers ranking and success but this is big opportunity for both, as those 2 veterans will go head to head for a place in the 3rd round.

Kevin Anderson was forced to retire in the 3rd set with a nagging knee injury and Ram was on the fortunate side to book his place further

This is the 2nd time in 3 years that we see Stephane Robert go on a tear and make it far in Australian Open. He had fortunes on his side, while losing in the last round of qualifying in 2014, to get into the main draw. He then scored 3 underdog wins and even took a set off Andy Murray before losing… He is on a similar pace again, winning the three qualifying ones and taking out Bjorn Fratangelo in the 1st round. The 35 year old and currently 210-th in the world is playing mostly on the Challenger circuit, but Melbourne seems to bring out the best of him.

This is the first meeting between the two and Rajeev Ram has a 38-42 all-time record while being an underdog of 2.00-2.99 with a nice +15.1 ROI. Robert counters the American’s record though with a 47-28 while priced 1.50-1.99 but with only +3.6% ROI.

Odds opened pretty even with a slight edge to Robert but since were cut even more, reason behind this is a mystery but given the great stats Ram has in that underdog position this seems as a great value.