Novak Djokovic vs. The Crowd: Six second-rounders to watch at the Australian Open

The second round begins on Wednesday in Melbourne. While no seeds face off yet, the matches do get incrementally more competitive. Once again, the best will probably happen last, which is good for night owls in Australia, and early risers in the U.S.

Ons Jabeur vs. Mirra Andreeva: A current Top 10 player meets a future one

Rod Laver Arena gets started with an intriguing clash of generations. Jabeur is 29, Andreeva 16. Jabeur is ranked sixth, Andreeva 47th. Jabeur reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in 2020; Andreeva had never played the main draw before.

As one-sided as that may sound, this could be a close and entertaining contest. Jabeur is the more mature player with the more varied shot repertoire, but Andreeva is a phenom who may be joining her in the Top 10 soon. Winner: Jabeur

Alex de Minaur vs. Matteo Arnaldi: Two skinny young sluggers strap on their jet packs

If Jabeur vs. Andreeva is a clash of contrasts, the second match in Laver pits two mirror images against each other. de Minaur, 24, and Arnaldi, 22, are both undersized physically, and both make up for it with good ground-stroke timing, leaping athleticism and a give-it-everything mentality. These two skinny sluggers, who have never played before, should send each other flying around the court, to the delight of the pro-Demon audience. de Minaur, ranked 30 spots higher, is Australia’s man of the moment, and he has bigger dreams than just the third round. But Arnaldi showed a winner’s grit in helping Italy to the Davis Cup title last fall. Winner: de Minaur

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Jordan Thompson: Who will have the rowdiest crowd support, the Greek or the Aussie?

Thompson has been one of the ATP’s pleasant surprises of the last couple of years. Once a dyed-in-the-wool baseline grinder, he has developed a more complete, varied and tricky game of late, and has cracked the Top 50 doing it. Along the way, the Sydney native recorded his first win over Tsitsipas, last spring in Indian Wells, 7-6 in the third. Still, Tsitsipas is ranked 40 spots higher, and he loves the support he gets from his fellow Greeks Down Under. We’ll see which player has more of it in this night match in Margaret Court Arena. Winner: Tsitsipas

Andrey Rublev vs. Chris Eubanks: Serve vs. forehand in this late-night fight

The last men’s contest on the schedule could be a suitably entertaining wee-hour matchup. But it’s kind of up to Eubanks. Before this week, the American hadn’t done much since his Wimbledon breakthrough of last summer, but he opened his AO campaign with a straight-set win over Taro Daniel. Rublev also had a breakthrough at Wimbledon last year—they both reached the quarterfinals there—but he has been much more successful than Eubanks since. Winner: Rublev

Novak Djokovic vs. Alexei Popyrin; Aryna Sabalenka vs. Brenda Fruhvirtova

The defending champs, Djokovic and Sabalenka, will again headline the night session in Laver Arena. Djokovic will take on Popyrin, of Australia, and Sabalenka will play the 16-year-old Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic.

Popyrin will have the crowd with him, and Fruhvirtova is an up-and-comer, but Djokovic and Sabalenka should have settled into this Slam by now. Winners: Djokovic, Sabalenka