Australian Open Fifth Round beckons for Djokovic and Co

Top seed Novak Djokovic is overwhelmingly odds-on at 1/33 with Coral to beat Gilles Muller, and having never played the 31-year-old lefty from Luxembourg, admitted that he will “do homework” before he takes to the court.

“That’s something that is obviously a challenge for me, to come to the court and play the way I want to play against somebody I never played against before,” said Djokovic, who has been on Tour for 12 years with his upcoming opponent, with the two set to battle it out for a place in the quarter finals.

“That can be also dangerous because of the uncertainty of what he’s going to do in some moments,” continued Djokovic, who appeared to know Muller quite well.

“He’s been on the Tour for many years,” said Djokovic. “He’s got a great serve; lefty. He has a nice slice serve. That’s his favourite. He struggled a little bit with injuries [the] last couple years, but I think [the] last six months [he] has been playing some of his best tennis.”

Meanwhile, Stan Wawrinka is also heavily odds-on at 1/10 to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez for the fifth time in his career, though he has lost to the Spaniard on three other occasions, so it could be a close affair.

Elsewhere, it will be an intriguing battle between fifth seed Kei Nishikori and David Ferrer, with the Japanese player holding a 6-3 winning record over the Valencia-based 32-year-old. Nishikori, odds-on at 4/9 was impressive as he powered past Steve Johnson over four sets in the last round.

“[After the first set], I started playing more side to side,” said Nishikori. “I was hitting to only his backhand, especially first set. He was playing really solid actually. Great forehand, hitting really aggressive. I think I was started a little bit shaky, a little bit tight.

“But after the second set I tried to change my mind, tried to hit through every ball. Return was getting much better. I hit a couple of winners from returns. After the first set I was playing I think really solid.”

In the ladies’, Serena Williams will be hoping to lay down the challenge for elder sister Venus who takes to the court later. The world number one is odds-on at 1/5 to beat 21-year-old Garbine Muguruza.