Publications
Partners
Cape Town - South African tennis star Kevin Anderson will go into Wednesday's Australian Open second round encounter confident he can dispatch American Frances Tiafoe.
Anderson, the fifth seed at the year’s first Grand Slam, opened his campaign in Melbourne on Monday with a four-set victory over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
Tiafoe, who is ranked No 39 on the ATP Tour rankings, beat India qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran in straight sets to set up a duel with Anderson on Wednesday.
Anderson will be the favourite against Tiafoe, with the big-serving South African holding a 3-0 head-to-head advantage.
All three of the pair’s encounters took place in 2018.
Anderson won the first encounter en route to his New York Open title on indoor hard courts 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
He won in straight sets (7-6 (7/3), 6-4) at the Miami Masters on outdoor hard courts and again in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 6-2) on the indoor hard courts of the Japan Open.
Meanwhile, South Africa's other participant in the men's singles, Lloyd Harris, suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Russia's Daniil Medvedev in the first round on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Harris, who qualified for the main draw, was beaten 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 by the 15th-seeded Russian.
In the men's doubles, South Africa's Raven Klaasen and his New Zealand doubles partner Michael Venus will open their campaign against American Bradley Klahn and Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin.
Klaasen and Venus are the sixth seeds.
