Juan Martin Del Potro faces down Marcos Baghdatis in Thursday's blockbuster night match at the Australian Open.
After a couple of five set epics on Rod Laver, this one has plenty to live up to. It will be hard to top Nalbandian versus Hewitt for drama, or Federer versus Simon for sheer quality but there's plenty to savour looking forward to this one. Crowd pleaser and former finalist Baghdatis against the 2009 US Open champion on the comeback trail.
After a tortuous twelve months battling a wrist injury, Del Potro is finally back on court and he made an impressive return in Sydney, beating Feliciano Lopez in a marathon first round match. However his fitness levels are still not back to their peak and he went down in straight sets in the next round. Here, he had a slightly shaky start against Dudi Sela but progressed without dropping a set.
Baghdatis is hoping for big things this season after a punishing off season fitness regime. He made the Brisbane quarters in week one but lost fairly tamely to Andy Roddick.
This one could well go the distance and if it does, expect Baghdatis' superior fitness and match sharpness to tell.
