A humdinger in prospect first up over on Marge C as seed numero 18 and 12 scrap it out

That’s followed by a British underdog against a towering German

The penultimate game sees the third seed take on the 30th seed, the young American up against the young Canadian

Finally, Britain’s number one men’s hope against a tricksy home favourite

As I wait for the coverage to beam into my telly (Beverley Hills Cop has just finished FYI) let’s turn our attention to today’s match ups. As mentioned, it is a belter. Tuck your tongue in will you!

Rod Laver Arena:

First up at 11:30 am local time, the number one women’s seed takes on a plucky Dane

After that it is local rivals Portugal v Spain, a battle between T-shirt vs Singlet

Followed by some 37 year old dude against a 24 year old Czech…

And finally:

The American 7th seed takes on the 23 year old Serbian southpaw.

Preamble

James Wallace

Hello and welcome to Day Six of the Australian Open brought to you from the sun dappled Melbourne Park a bloke under a heated blanked sporting long johns in chilly south London, England.

I’m not complaining, the coffee is strong, the multiple devices are charged and the line-up is stellar – how does Sabalenka, Vekic, Alcaraz, Zverev, Gauff, Djokovic, Pegula… Sessions Draper… sound?

Not to mention Lynch, Howcroft and Harris on the livebloggin’ tools. Ambassador, we are spoiling you.

Before we get to today’s proceedings, a word on the late-night-five-set-ding-dong between American teenager Learner Tien and three time Aussie open finalist and US open champion Daniil Medvedev. Namely: WOW. What a match that was. The tournament needed a shot in the arm and holy moly it got one.

“I was definitely hoping it wouldn’t go to a fifth-set breaker ... It was definitely harder than maybe it could have been, but, whatever,” the teenage Tien said in the moments after toppling Medvedev - the gnarled old gunslinger - 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 1-6, 7-6 in the small matter of 4 hours 49 minutes.

Tien then charmed the crowd even further : “I really appreciate all you guys staying out here. I know it’s late. I have no idea what time it is.” It was actually the wee small hours of Friday morning and definitely past Tien’s bedtime. Not that he would have been able to sleep after playing the match of his short career so far.

Let’s hope for more thrills, spills and belly earaches (Here’s looking at you Danielle Collins) as the tournament approaches the end of its first week.

I’ll post the schedule/order of play in a moment, the first balls will be tossed on the Rod Laver and Margaret Court Arena’s at 11.30 AEDT – about 40 minutes from now. Do get in touch if you are following along, weirdest and wackiest blog following location gets a special/undisclosed/as yet undecided prize. Maybe. *Please do check the small print.

_{*There will be no physical prizes. A mention on this blog should be enough, no? Greedyguts.}