There will be an all-American third round matchup on Friday at the 2020 Australian Open in Melbourne. In the final match at 1573 Arena in prime time, Tennys Sandgren of Gallatin, TN will battle Sam Querrey of San Francisco, CA with a round of 16 spot on the line.
Sandgren, who is currently ranked 100th in the world, is looking to bounce back in 2020 after a disappointing 2019 tennis season where he had a record of 12 wins and 16 losses. The return to the southern hemisphere and the Oceania region could be just what Sandgren needed however. In 2018, Sandgren reached the Australian Open semifinals after impressive wins over Jeremy Chardy of France, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and Dominic Thiem of Austria. Sandgren then won the 2019 Auckland Open in New Zealand where he beat Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
Querrey is currently 45th in the world. Grass seems to be Querrey’s specialty as he has reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals twice and Wimbledon once. However, Querrey has produced consistent results at the Australian Open over the years as he has been to the third round six times.
Head-to-head, Querrey won the only previous meeting. That came in the fourth round of Wimbledon last year with Querrey winning 6-4, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6.
At the 2020 Australian Open, Querrey beat Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round, while Sandgren stunned the eighth seed Matteo Berretini of Italy 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 7-5 also in the second round. Berrettini was entering the Australian Open on a grand slam high as he reached the semifinals in Flushing Meadows in September.
There are three other American men in singles play in round three. They are Taylor Fritz of Rancho Santa Fe, CA, John Isner of Dallas, TX and Tommy Paul of Greenville, NC. In the second round, Fritz, the 29th seed, beat the 2017 U.S. Open finalist and 2018 Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson of South Africa 4-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2. Isner, the 19th seed, steamrolled past Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. While Paul also delivered an unlikely upset as he beat the 18th ranked Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6.
In the third round, Paul will play Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in a battle of unseeded players. Isner faces 15th ranked Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland. Wawrinka, a three-time grand slam singles champion, won the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open and 2016 United States Open. Meanwhile, Fritz faces the fifth ranked Thiem, who reached the French Open Final in 2017 and 2018.
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