Anderson to face little-known Belarusian in Australian Open Round 1

News24
18 Jan 2020, 22:13 GMT+10

Cape Town - South Africa's Kevin Anderson will begin his 2020 Australian Open title quest against little-known Belarusian, Ilya Ivashka.

Ivashka, 25, has a career high singles ranking of 80th, but is currently a lowly 149th in the standings.

Ivashka came through a gruelling qualification process, finishing as the seventh-best qualifier of the 19 who earned their way into the main 128-player draw.

Australian Open draw | Men's singles

Australian Open draw | Women's singles

Anderson, unseeded at the year's first Grand Slam following a series of injuries that curtailed the second half of his 2019 season, will fancy his chances of progressing to Round 2.

Should he do so, the winner of the clash between 29th-seeded American Taylor Fritz and Dutch player Tallon Griekspoor lies in wait.

Anderson, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, could then face world No 5 Dominic Thiem in the third round.

All things going according to plan, should Anderson make it to the quarter-finals, a date with world No 1 - and 19-time Grand Slam champion - Rafael Nadal may await. Nadal beat Anderson in the 2017 US Open final.

Meanwhile, South Africa's other singles contestant, Lloyd Harris, faces a tough opener against 14th-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman.

Seedings for next week's Australian Open Grand Slam at Melbourne Park:

Men

Women

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