As third-round ATP action concludes at the Australian Open, the world No. 1 meets a flamboyant Spanish shot-maker, and two of the Tour’s most tenacious grinders square off.

Fernando Verdasco v. Novak Djokovic

On Friday in Melbourne, we saw Andreas Seppi record the biggest win of his entire career over Roger Federer in the third round, taking down the second seed in a four-set thriller. On Saturday night, Fernando Verdasco will be looking to replicate Seppi’s efforts as he takes on Novak Djokovic in their 11th head-to-head meeting.  

Djokovic has won six of the 10 matches these two have contested, but Verdsaco has held his own, having won at least one set in nine of the matches they have played. Their most recent meeting came in the second round of the ATP 500 event in Beijing in 2013, a match that Djokovic ended up winning in three sets. Despite being consistently pushed by Verdasco, Djokovic will take confidence in the fact that he has only lost one match to the Spaniard on a hard court. That match took place all the way back in 2005, when Djokovic was just 17 years old.

The Serbian world No.1 has looked utterly convincing in his first two matches. He went straight for the jugular against Aljaz Bedene and Andrey Kuznetsov, both of whom were rendered helpless and beaten in quick fashion in straight sets. Verdasco’s road to the third round saw one slight hiccup in the first set of his first-round match against Great Britain’s James Ward. Since that point, Verdasco has won six straight sets, which included a straight-sets victory over Japanese player Go Soeda in the second round.

It’s going to take a special performance from Verdasco to take out Djokovic and probably a fair bit of luck as well. The Spaniard has struggled against top-notch defenders over the last several years, which is evident given that he has lost his last nine matches against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer dating back to 2009.

We’ll need to see an extraordinarily high level of execution from Verdasco off the serve and forehand. Verdasco has a terrific serve that combines power, spin, and placement. Against the best returner in the world, it’ll have to be clicking. What Verdasco can’t do is start to think he can grind with Djokovic from the back of the court. The more margin and spin Verdasco hits with from the baseline, the less of a chance he gives himself to win.

Look for Djokovic to really go after the Verdasco backhand. It’s by far his weakest shot and one that Djokovic should have little issue targeting with effectiveness.

Djokovic should get through this one, but it would be intriguing to see what happens if Verdasco were to summon the magic we saw from him down under in 2009, when he took Rafael Nadal to a fifth set in a semifinal on this court

Prediction: Djokovic in four sets

Gilles Simon v. David Ferrer

Every time these two guys play, I find myself saying “man, this could be a long one,” and each time I’ve said that I’ve been dead wrong. In the seven matches Ferrer and Simon have played, five have finished in straight sets. Even worse, only five of the 18 sets these two have played have gone past 6-4. All of this is extremely surprising considering how similarly matched these two are.

Ferrer leads the overall head-to-head 5-2, but Simon got his number in their most recent meeting in the third round of the U. S. Open last year.

Simon won his opening two matches in straight sets, defeating Robin Haase and Marcel Granollers. Ferrer on the other hand was made to work by Thomaz Bellucci and Sergiy Stakhovsky, who both won the first set over him before Ferrer gained the edge in the next three frames.

The interesting thing about this matchup is the perception of both their games. Ferrer has always been described as someone who really has no offensive weapons, which is about as big of a myth as there is in tennis. Ferrer’s forehand, especially of the inside-out variety, is one of the most potent and consistently damaging weapons in the game. Yes, Ferrer can grind you into oblivion, but he also can dictate with his forehand.

Simon has been talked about as a human backboard, to which there is certainly more credence. But what is often left out is that Simon can play some big-time offense (off both wings) when he chooses to do so. Whether you want to believe it or not, you can’t beat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (as Simon has) by simply being a backboard.

Unless one of these two guys plays otherworldly defense, look for the player who is more willing to dictate to win. I believe that player will be Ferrer, and for that reason he’s my pick in this one.

Prediction: Ferrer in four sets