Alex de Minaur will be on a revenge mission when he takes on Matteo Arnaldi in one of the marquee matches on day four of the Australian Open.
It's shaping up to be another big day of tennis, with Coco Gauff, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev among the stars taking part in the tournament.
There was no shortage of drama in the opening days of the tournament, with players unhappy with fan movement during matches and concerns raised about the Australian Open's “party court”.
Catch up on all the latest talking points from Wednesday's play below.
7.00 AM: Satan's mission of vengeance against the conqueror of David's cup
He survived an early stumble for Milos Raonic and now Alex De Minaur is thinking about revenge when he goes to war with Italian Matteo Arnaldi in the second round on Wednesday.
De Minaur was forced to dig deep into his bag of tricks on Monday night to survive a stunning serve from Raonic, who eventually retired early in the third set with a thigh injury.
His next Test is world No. 41 Arnaldi, who has shown a knack for knocking Australians out of major tournaments and is quickly becoming public enemy number one Down Under.
Arnaldi, 22, beat Alexei Popyrin in the Davis Cup finals last year, as Italy went on to lift the trophy with a 2-1 win over Australia.
Even though De Minaur had faced world number four Jannik Sinner that day, he still felt some responsibility to get the goal back for Arnaldi, whom he had never played before.
“It's no secret that the Davis Cup is a big priority for me, and I've been crushed in the last two years to get so close to the Holy Grail and barely miss it – so yeah, I'm linking Mathieu with the guy who beat us in the tournament.” Davis Cup final,” de Minaur said.
“So I will do my best to get some revenge. He is a good competitor but I will be ready for it.”
Arnaldi rose 91 places in the ATP rankings last year after some impressive wins, including a straight sets win over world No. 11 Casper Ruud and three-set victories over No. 22 Cameron Norrie and No. 23 Jiri Lehica.
The Italian also knocked out Australian Jason Kubler in the first round of the US Open and defeated Popyrin twice, including in the Davis Cup final.
He opened his maiden Australian Open campaign with a straight sets win over Queensland's Adam Walton on Sunday and now has the Australian No. 1 in his sights.
But de Minaur is a different broth, especially this version.
After his impressive start to 2024, which began with three top-10 finishes in the United Cup – including Novak Djokovic – De Minaur will be the heavy favorite going into this competition.
A win will set up a third round match with another unseeded player.
Many are already looking forward to a thrilling fourth-round clash with world number five Andrey Rublev as the first real test of De Minaur's credentials.
But the Australian, who has never made it past the fourth round at the Australian Open, said his focus was firmly on Arnaldi.
“To be completely honest, I have no idea what the draw is,” De Minaur said.
“I don't look at the draw, I don't like it, I think it's a way to get ahead of yourself and there's no moment like the present.
“For me, the only thing I'm really focused on is my next opponent which is obviously Arnaldi.
“(He is) a high-quality Italian player with great attacking ability and he started the year really well, so I will be ready for that fight and whatever happens, happens next.”
Originally published as Australian Open day 4 live: Alex de Minaur v Matteo Arnaldi, latest news and results
