Rafael Nadal and Gilles Simon are the two Top 8 seeds in the first quarter. I personally don't expect Simon to be a quarterfinalist so that spot is up for the taking. Gael Monfils could fill his place as I don't see anyone else taking it. If Youzhny was in form I would expect him to take the spot but I'm not too sure about his current form. I'd love to see Ancic have a shot but I'm not sure he is capable of making the quarters. Therefore Monfils is my bet for the Quarters; it would also be interesting to see if he could beat Nadal again like at Qatar.
Going back to Nadal's side I'm excited to see Tommy Haas in the draw and I also hope Gasquet and Tursunov do well. I do think Gasquet has a chance to reach the 4th round (like the previous 2 years) I think in his section Lleyton Hewitt maybe the biggest problem but besides that he should be fine.
Andy Murray is in the second section; so my finals prediction is Murray Vs. Federer (which could mean a first Murray slam!)He has an unbelievably easy section of the draw; I personally don't see any possible shocks for him to get to the QF's, but I do hope Nishikori can perform well though.
Tsonga is on the other side but he supposedly has injury woes; hopefully Juan Monaco can capitalize on that. Personally though I'd say besides Blake and Tsonga I don't see any other alternates for the QF spot. If Tsonga is in trouble then I'd go with Blake because he's normally been a sturdy player at the Australian Open.
Djokovic probably has the hardest of the ranked 5th to 8th player to tackle if he was to make it into the semis; this being Andy Roddick. Well lets look at Roddick's draw before we say anything. He was shocked last year by Kohlschreiber but I don't see that happening again.
I am increasingly worried about Djokovic as he's lost twice this season already and to relatively lower ranked players. But to be honest I really don't see anyone Djokovic should lose to - I think Mathieu could be a difficult challenge but besides that I would be shocked if he doesn't make the QF because Djokovic always fights for his spot at Grand Slams.
Juan Martin Del Potro and Roger Federer fill the last quarter. I think Del Potro should be fine until the 4th round though I do hope Bernard Tomic and Feliciano Lopez could do well. On the other side Marin Cilic I think will definitely play David Ferrer. Though Ferrer is a solid Australian open player I think Cilic may edge him out on this one.
Federer does have Safin in his draw and I would LOVE to see a shock because it's Safin's last year. Besides that the draw should be quite simple for Federer.
Expected Quarterfinal Lineup
Nadal Vs. Monfils
Murray Vs. Blake
Roddick Vs. Djokovic
Cilic Vs. Federer (just for some variation of top 16 seeds)
I'm slightly worried about my predictions because they are all relatively high seeds and there are always shocks.
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