Eighth seed Radek Stepanek is in first round action against Xavier Malisse at the Apia International Sydney on Tuesday.
Stepanek may turn 34 later this year but the evergreen Czech still manages to maintain his position in the higher echelons of the game. Ranked 28 in the world, he's regularly seeded for these ATP 250 events and will be eyeing a place in the quarters at the very least this week, having made the semis twice in the past at this event.
He certainly enjoyed a better start to 2012 than Malisse, reaching the Brisbane quarters last week, losing a tight three setter to Alex Dolgopolov. In contrast Malisse suffered a tempetuous opening round defeat to little known Belgian David Goffin in Chennai, losing his cool and ultimately the match, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Stepanek leads 4-3 on the head-to-head and has won all the big matches between these two - Wimbledon 2006, Miami Masters 2008 and then in the Davis Cup two years ago.
Prediction: Stepanek in two.
