Max Purcell has already secured a career first by progressing to the second round of the Australian Open for the first time.
Now the Australian will look to go one better and reach the third round as he takes on Casper Ruud on Wednesday afternoon as Day 5’s action at Melbourne Park gets underway.
Purcell, who took care of Hungarian qualifier Máté Valkusz in four sets, faces a much tougher challenge against the 11th seed Ruud.
But he can take confidence from a victory over Ruud in the second round of last year’s Cincinnati Masters.
“We’re 1-1 I think in head-to-head,” Purcell said on Tuesday.
“I got the last one. Hopefully it’s lively and bouncy like Cincinnati and I can just do some damage like I did against him there.”
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Purcell also touched on the potential advantage he got playing in the middle of the day, describing the opportunity to face Europeans in the Australian summer as a “huge plus”.
“I just wanted to play middle of the day. Anytime you get to play Europeans in the Australia summer when they come from indoor and winter, it’s a huge plus,” he said.
Unfortunately for Purcell temperatures aren’t expected to top 20 degrees on Thursday in Melbourne, meaning the heat won’t really be a factor.
But the Australian has plenty of confidence after a breakthrough singles year that had 28-time Grand Slam champion John Newcombe declaring he could find himself inside the top 20 soon.
“Yeah, huge,” replied Purcell when asked how those kinds of words of affirmation made him feel.
“I’ve had a lot of these ex-players give me some belief in my game, they like the way I play in trying to come forward. Obviously today less than usual just ‘cause I knew the guy I was playing, his legs were dead from qualifying.
“It’s great to kind of have their backing. Obviously I have my own team’s backing, my own colleagues, friends who back me, as well. We have such a tight group in Australia right now.
“I back the s*** out of Rinky [Hijikata] and all these other guys that go out and play. I think we have such a good support group. That helps me believe I can win, as well.”
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Purcell is not the only Australian in action on Day 5 with Thanasi Kokkinakis facing 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov later in the day while Ajla Tomljanovic takes on old foe Jelena Ostapenko to cap off the night’s action on John Cain Arena.
Meanwhile, there will be plenty of star power on Rod Laver Arena too with women’s World No.1 Iga Swiatek and men’s No.2 Carlos Alcaraz looking to continue their Australian Open charge.
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DAY 5 ORDER OF PLAY (Show courts)
Day session from 12pm AEDT, night session from 7pm AEDT, unless listed
ROD LAVER ARENA
Day session
No.1 Iga Swiatek (POL) vs Danielle Collins (USA)
Not before 1:30pm: No.2 Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)
Night session
No.3 Elena Rybakina (KAZ) vs Anna Blinkova (RUS)
Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN) vs No.3 Daniil Medvedev (RUS)
MARGARET COURT ARENA
Day session
Max Purcell (AUS) vs No.11 Casper Ruud (NOR)
Clara Burel (FRA) vs No.5 Jessica Pegula (USA)
Night session
No.8 Holger Rune (DEN) vs Arthur Cazaux (FRA)
Clara Tauson (DEN) vs No.18 Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
JOHN CAIN ARENA (from 11am)
No.6 Alexander Zverev (GER) vs Lukas Klein (SLO)
No.14 Daria Kasatkina (RUS) vs Sloane Stephens (USA)
Not before 4pm: No.13 Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)
Not before 7pm: No.11 Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) vs Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS)
