The first quarterfinal in the men’s draw at the 2013 Australian Open will feature an All-Spanish match between David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro. With fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal out of this year’s Aussie Open, Ferrer was bumped up into a top four seed and he’s has encountered little trouble so far. The No. 4 player has been set on a semifinal collision course with No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Ferrer has been pushed to a fourth set only once, and is coming off a straight-set win over Kei Nishikori in the fourth round.
David Ferrer vs. Nicolas Almagro begins Australian Open men’s quarterfinals
David Ferrer opens the men’s quarterfinals at the Aussie Open against Nicolas Almagro, who has never beaten Ferrer in 12 previous tries.
Robert Prezioso
Ferrer has yet to make the finals of a Grand Slam, and has reached the semis in Melbourne just once (2011). Now he gets Almagro, someone who he’s quite familiar with and has had success against in the past (a perfect 12-0 record).
Almagro advanced to the quarters when Janko Tipsarevic retired in the fourth round. Almagro was up 6-2, 5-1 when Tipsarevic retired, but it obviously was not the toughest test with the Serb suffering from a foot injury. He’s in the quarterfinals of a Slam for just the second time in his career.
Almagro and Ferrer will play the second match of the day at Rod Laver Arena, which will be broadcast on Monday night in the United States. The Tennis Channel will start coverage at 7 p.m. ET before handing things off to ESPN2 at 9 p.m. ET.
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