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Pospisil and Ruud claim second-round qualifying victories indoors
Former World No. 17 Bernard Tomic battled his way into the final round of Australian Open qualifying in a rain delayed second round with #NextGenATP American Tommy Paul in a tight 6-0, 6-7(5), 7-6(4) encounter, which was finished indoors due to inclement weather at Melbourne Park on Saturday.

Although he raced off to an emphatic 6-0, 5-2 lead, Tomic, who finds himself outside of the Top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time since 2014, surrendered the second set following an inspired fightback from the 20-year-old. The third set remained tightly contested, with the pair exchanging breaks before the Australian claimed victory under the roof on Margaret Court Arena.

Tomic will be looking to make his 10th straight appearance in the Australian Open main draw when he plays his final qualifying match against Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, who is bidding to qualify for a Grand Slam main draw for the first time in his career following a standout 2017 season in which he claimed his first ATP Challenger Tour title.

Watch Live Streaming Of Qualifying From Melbourne Park

Later on the third day of qualifying, Vasek Pospisil battled past Stefano Napolitano 6-1, 6-7(5), 7-5 to book a showdown with Ramkumar Ramanathan. The Canadian, who defeated top-seeded Andy Murray at the BNP Paribas Open last year, conquered Napolitano in two hours, three minutes.

#NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud will look to qualify for a Grand Slam main draw for the first time when he faces Ernesto Escobedo on Sunday. Ruud triumphed over Kazakh Dmitry Popko 7-5, 6-3, while Escobedo overcame Alessandro Giannessi 6-3, 6-2.

Contenders look to end the 12-Slam winning streak of the 'Big Five'

Five players have ruled the Grand Slams with a diamond fist for more than a decade. Roger Federer (19), Rafael Nadal (16), Novak Djokovic (12), Andy Murray (3) and Stan Wawrinka (3) have combined to win 51 of the past 54 major titles — that is a stunning 94 per cent victory rate for five players against the entire field.

But it is never possible to count out the rest of the competitors. With Murray out of the Australian Open due to recent hip surgery, sixth seed Marin Cilic and No. 12 seed Juan Martin del Potro make six players in Melbourne who have previously won a Grand Slam. That means 122 of the world's best have a shot at earning their first major championship.

Some players stand a better chance of breaking the 'Big Five''s 12-Slam winning streak than others. Here are seven contenders who can become first-time Grand Slam champions Down Under:

1) Grigor Dimitrov — No. 3 seed

Fresh off the biggest title of his career at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, the Bulgarian will be full of confidence heading into the first Grand Slam of the 2018 campaign. And in a way, his run of form started at Melbourne Park one year ago.

In a semi-final for the ages, Dimitrov pushed eventual finalist Rafael Nadal to the brink in a four-hour, 56-minute marathon five-setter. If the right-hander seized one of two break points in the opening game of the fifth set that day, who knows what the outcome would have been. He was that close on the big stage once, and proved that he can win against the very best when he captured the trophy in London, as well as at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati. What is to say the World No. 3 won’t channel that momentum into his first Grand Slam title?

2) Alexander Zverev — No. 4 seed

The accolades are piling up for the 20-year-old German. At the 2017 Internazionali BNL D’Italia, Zverev became the youngest player since Novak Djokovic in 2007 to win an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. Then, he triumphed at the same level again at the Coupe Rogers, becoming the first player outside of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to raise multiple Masters 1000 trophies in a season, also becoming just the second active player (Jo-Wilfried Tsonga) to win more than one.

Zverev is not simply winning, though. The rapid riser is winning against top-notch competition. He earned seven Top 10 victories in 2017, storming to as high as No. 3 in the ATP Rankings.

Sure, Zverev has only made it as far as the Round of 16 at the Grand Slams. But it is a matter of when, not if, he will break through at the majors. Why not now?

3) Dominic Thiem — No. 5 seed

It is tough to argue that a player inside the Top 5 of the ATP Rankings can’t win a Grand Slam. That argument becomes even harder when discussing one of the biggest pure ball-strikers in the sport. Few players hit as heavy and hard of a ball off of both the forehand and backhand wing as the 24-year-old Austrian.

That has helped him earn wins during his career against each of the players seeded ahead of him — Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev. In fact, he owns a combined 10-9 lead against those four players, and the only opponent out of the quartet who has a favourable FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Thiem is Nadal, who is in the top half of the draw.

The right-hander does find himself in arguably the toughest quarter, however, with 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka possibly lurking in the Round of 16 while he could meet either Zverev or six-time champion Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. But if they can’t stop Thiem, will anyone prevent him from claiming his first Grand Slam victory?

4) David Goffin — No. 7 seed

If it takes a massive win to gain confidence, then Goffin is full of it after his finish to the 2017 season.

Win the Shenzhen Open and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 — check. Qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time — check. Beat Roger Federer for the first time — check. Come within a set of claiming the season finale — check. The 27-year-old Belgian is playing the best tennis of his life, and will be no small task for anyone to deal with in Melbourne.

Considering much of the talk is about No. 12 seed Juan Martin del Potro and his run of form — and rightfully so — in Goffin’s sixteenth of the draw, the Belgian may just continue along with his excellent form under the radar until it’s the second week.

5) Jack Sock — No. 8 seed

Who can forget Sock’s magical run at the Rolex Paris Masters in the final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the season? The American went from No. 24 in the ATP Race To London with plans to play golf the next week to competing in the semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals following the biggest victory of his career in Paris.

And much of that late-season success was thanks to one of the greatest forehands in the sport, which allows Sock to hang tough with the top players on the ATP World Tour.

The 25-year-old secured four Top 5 wins in 2017. And he seemed to play his best tennis when freely swinging away, not even knowing that he had a chance at qualifying for the season finale. Sock may not be a top favourite in Melbourne Park, but if he’s firing on all cylinders, look out for the rising American.

6) Nick Kyrgios — No. 17 seed

Look up the word ‘talent’ in a dictionary and you may very well find a picture of Nick Kyrgios. When the Australian is focused and in form, he is as dynamic a player as anyone on the ATP World Tour. So while the right-hander is the No. 17 seed, that does not matter as much as how he plays on match day.

And judging by his performance at the Brisbane International, Kyrgios is heading into his home Grand Slam in fine form, beating World No. 3 and Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov en route to his first ATP World Tour title in Australia.

Fans may get to see that tantalising matchup once again at Melbourne Park in the Round of 16. And if the wunderkind Kyrgios, who has proven his propensity for performing his best against the best by becoming the second player (Lleyton Hewitt) to defeat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in his first meeting against each, can get through that battle against the Bulgarian, the momentum and the crowd may very well send him deep into the second week, when anything can happen.

7) Milos Raonic — No. 22 seed

Raonic Discusses Art And ATP World Tour Comeback In Brisbane

The Canadian may be the 22nd seed in Melbourne, but he is certainly not the 22nd biggest threat in the draw. Not when the right-hander has made at least the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in each of the past three years, including a semi-finals appearance in 2016.

And not only that, but Raonic was up two sets to one against Andy Murray in the semi-finals two years ago, right on the fringe of his first Grand Slam final, an accomplishment he would etch into his resumé two majors later at Wimbledon.

The eight-time ATP World Tour titlist has arguably one of the Top 3 serves in the world. And when he has that firing, all it could take is an opponent having an off day to seal their fate, because anyone who is not in form against Raonic will be in deep trouble. That includes second seed Roger Federer, who he could meet in the Round of 16 — the Canadian did beat Federer to advance to his first Grand Slam final after all.

[The evolution of the Australian Open can be considered one of the most compelling "worst to first" tales in sports, even though it has nothing to do with teams, coaches or win-loss records.

A Grand Slam in name only as late as 1987, the tournament (it begins Sunday, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2 in Melbourne Park) has set the gold standard for tennis promotions. The venue has three roofed stadiums, beautiful open-air secondary courts and numerous crossover attractions, from kid-friendly zones to the AO Live Stage music venue.

Put plainly, the other three majors have been playing catch-up.

EDITOR'S PICKS

Murray eyes Wimbledon after hip surgery
Andy Murray underwent right hip surgery Monday and hopes to be back on tour "during the grass-court season" and in time for Wimbledon.


Nadal to play Aussie Open tune-up in Kooyong
Rafael Nadal is scheduled to play Tuesday at Kooyong, which regularly hosted the Australian Open on grass before the tournament moved to hard courts at Melbourne Park.


Azarenka withdraws from Australian Open
Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Australian Open because of a custody dispute over her son that will not allow her to travel to the tournament.

Once shunned by the top stars, the tournament is now beloved by the elites. Here's how Roger Federer put it in his postmatch press conference after winning last year:
"This is a tournament I've not missed," he said. "This is the one I guess that is my most consistent Slam potentially. It all started for me here. I played the qualies here in '99, the juniors in '98. Won my first match maybe against Michael Chang here back in 2000. I go way back. Always loved coming here."

The transformation of the Australian Open from a moribund event played on grass in the confines of a fusty old tennis club (Kooyong) into the model major happened in one great leap in 1987. That's when the tournament, aided by a date change from late December to early January, moved into Melbourne Park. It soon began to alter the arc of tennis history.

At that time and into the early 1990s, Roy Emerson's record of 11 Grand Slam singles titles still seemed unbeatable. Elite players had grown accustomed to a three-Slam game. The poor conditions at Kooyong and the holiday-season time slot gradually drove away stars once they started making enough money to skip the event.

"[The tournament] wasn't like a major, and the players didn't think of it as one," said ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert, who played at Kooyong a few times. "The grass was goofy. You dropped the ball and it didn't even reach your calf on the bounce. The club was crowded. If you were playing on the field courts, you were right on top of the guy playing next to you. It was nothing like Wimbledon or the US Open."

Bjorn Borg, who retired with 11 majors, played in Melbourne just once. Jimmy Connors, who won eight majors, played the US Open 21 times and the Down Under Slam just twice (he did win a title there). John McEnroe played the Australian Open just once during the period when he had his best chance to win it.

But that has not been the case for this generation of stars. Novak Djokovic has won the Aussie six times -- which accounts for half of his Slam total. The tournament launched Djokovic's tenure in the big time when he bagged his first major in Melbourne, in 2008. He failed to win another major in 11 tries but entered his most prolific period with another title Down Under three years later.

Serena Williams owns seven Aussie titles. Even though she withdrew this season, without that event as a staple in her schedule, she wouldn't be vying for the all-time singles Grand Slam record.

Federer isn't far down on the beneficiary list. He's been most successful at Wimbledon (eight major titles), but he's won the same number of titles in Australia (five) as at the US Open.

The hard courts in Melbourne Park have also played a significant role in the rivalry between Federer and Rafael Nadal. While Nadal has contended at almost every Australian Open he's entered, he's won just once in four finals. It helps explain why he's still No. 2 to Federer in the all-time singles title derby, trailing 19-16.

The other Hall of Fame players who benefited greatly when the Australian Open became important again were Andre Agassi and Jim Courier, who like Djokovic won half their majors Down Under.

The Australian Open has done more for the game than enriching the top players. The move to January transformed the tennis calendar, leading to an enormous expansion of the game and its popularity.

Tennis is still largely seen as an outdoor, summer enterprise, with Wimbledon and the US Open generating the greatest amount of media buzz. But the Australian Open now launches the tennis year with a great big bang. It's a critical advantage for tennis, because for most fans in this sports-glutted age, tennis is still all about the Grand Slams.


Now the first Grand Slam champions of the new year are crowned, with an appropriate degree of fanfare, in late January, not early June. The game is off and running, and that helps give momentum to the two big outdoor hard-court events played a little over a month after the conclusion of the AO, Indian Wells and Miami. Federer expressed his awareness and appreciation of that history last year. After the final, he spoke about how happy he was to mount his epic comeback in Melbourne, citing two of his former Aussie coaches -- and a lot of other folks -- as cherished influences and motivators.

"I'm so thankful to Peter Carter and Tony Roche, and [also] just [the Australian] people," he said. "I guess my popularity here, their support, [helped me show] that I can still do it at my age after not having won a Slam for almost five years."

We've come a long way from the days when droves of European and American stars skipped the onetime December event in order to be home for the holidays.

As Federer pointed out, "When you win down here, the journey home is not a problem. When you lose, it's just brutal."

The travel time hasn't changed, but these days all the top players are willing to make the journey because the reward for winning is well worth it.