Three to See: Djokovic vs. Chung; Garcia vs. Keys; Halep vs. Osaka

Before each day's play at the Australian Open, we'll preview and predict three must-see matches.

Halep said she was “almost dead” after her 333-point, three-hour and 44-minute win over Lauren Davis on Saturday. So that must make this match the afterlife for the Romanian. How well will she be able to recover, especially with the bad ankle that she was nursing throughout that match? It won’t be easy, even with a day of rest. And facing Osaka’s bullet serves and forehand won’t make it any easier.

The 20-year-old from Japan may be in the midst of a breakthrough forntight. She’s already beaten a pair of quality opponents, Elena Vesnina and Ashleigh Barty, and in her two previous meetings with Halep, Osaka has taken a set each time before ultimately losing. But there’s another scenario for Halep: Knowing that many people will expect her to be exhausted, she might feel less pressure and play better. Winner: Halep

“I think this was the best he can play,” Alexander Zverev said after losing to Chung on Saturday. “If he backs this up, then we’ll see how far this can go.”

Talk about tall orders: Chung’s first chance to back it up will come against a six-time Australian Open champ. The 21-year-old from South Korea has played Djokovic once, in Melbourne two years ago, and it didn’t go well; Djokovic won in three routine sets. But this won’t be the same Chung, or the same Djokovic. The Serb is coming back after six months off, and he has the aches and pains in his hip and back to show for it. Meanwhile, as Zverev said, Chung was very solid, mentally and physically, throughout their five-set match; Djokovic won’t be able to grind him down easily. But even if he’s feeling a niggle or two, you have to think he’ll grind him down eventually. Winner: Djokovic

Is it better sign if you’ve won your first three matches the easy way or the hard way? That could be the deciding factor in whether you favor Keys or Garcia in this one. The American has taken the path of least resistance, dropping just seven games and zero sets on her way to the fourth round. The Frenchwoman, meanwhile, has been pushed to a third set twice, and all the way to 8-6 in a third set once.

As far as their head to head goes, Keys and Garcia are 1-1, but much has happened to both of them since their last meeting in 2016. Garcia won two big events at the end of 2017 that launched herself into the Top 10. But Keys did something that may have matter more at a major—she reached the final of the last one, in New York. Garcia has the shots, but Keys has the power to keep her from using them. Winner: Keys

Read Joel Drucker and Nina Pantic on TENNIS.com as they report from the Australian Open, and watch them each day on The Daily Mix:

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