Federer goes into Australian as a No. 17 seed
4-time tournament champ is coming off 2016 knee injury.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — While Roger Federer spent his time at Melbourne Park on Saturday talking about his comeback at a news conference, dozens of lower-ranked players were still at work trying to earn a spot in the main draw of the Australian Open.
Austrian veteran Jurgen Melzer was among them, along with Americans Noah Rubin and Bjorn Fratangelo. Melzer’s reward for his 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over Rajeev Ram out on Court 13 was a firstround match on Monday night against 17-time major winner Federer on Rod Laver Arena. Federer has won the Australian title four times, and reached the semifinals or better in 12 of the past 13 years, but hasn’t played a match for rankings points since Wimbledon.
W h e n t h e d r a w w a s c o n d u c t e d F r i d a y, t h e 17th-seeded Federer landed on position 24 and had three b l a n k s l o t s a b o v e h i m, reserved for players who advanced through qualifying.
Melzer ended up in position 23, while Fratangelo’s 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Hiroki Moriya and Rubin’s 6-2, 6-4 win over Evgeny Donskoy resulted in them finishing up in positions 21 and 22. They’ll meet in the first round, with the winner advancing to the second round to play the winner of the Federer-Melzer match.
Melzer and Federer are both 35 and both had significant time off in 2016 with injuries. Melzer, who reached a c areer-high No. 8 ranking in 2011, missed the first part of last season recovering from surgery on his left shoulder and slipped as low as No. 550. Federer missed the last six months to let his left knee recover and ended the season ranked 16th.
Federer didn’t know who he’d be playing when he sat down for his pre-tournament news conference.
“Yeah, it would be good to know who I play. I guess I could tell you what I think,” he said. “Once it’s out, it’s actually a good thing because then you can start actually mentally preparing for the Aussie Open. Is it a lefty, a righty? It’s a big deal. Is he a big server, a grinder?
“A bit of an unknown here the first round because that’s the part of the draw I care most about because of having not been playing.”
He won’t have to do too much re s e a rc h. Fe dere r has a 3-1 record against the left-handed Melzer, winning three times in 2010 but losing their last head-to-head in straight sets on clay in Monte Carlo in 2011.
Czech veteran Radek Stepanek, seeded top in the qualifying tournament, had a 6-2, 6-4 win over John-Patrick Smith to reach the Australian Open main draw for the 14th time. He has a 14-13 win-loss record to date, never advancing beyond the third round. His best run at a major was reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2006.
Among the other qualifiers was Alexander Bublik, who recovered from a break down in the third set to beat deaf South Korean teenager Lee Duck-hee 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Bublik will play No. 16 Lucas Pouille in the first round.
T wo A me r i c a n s we r e among the women’s qualifiers, with Julia Boserup winning her way to a first-round match against 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and Jennifer Brady advancing to her debut in the main draw at a major against Johanna Larsson.