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4 must-watch matches in the Australian Open Round of 16

Eric Gaillard / REUTERS

After a wild six days of upsets and comebacks and throwbacks and thrillers, we're headed into Week 2 of the Australian Open, with the men's and women's fields whittled down to 16 apiece.

Though they lack the same action-packed delirium of the first week, the latter rounds bring increasingly competitive matchups, and there are some tasty ones on tap for the Round of 16, which will commence Saturday night for those of us in the Western Hemisphere.

The Aussie Open isn't especially conducive to alternate time-zone viewing, with matches running through the night. You'll be hard-pressed to catch every fourth-round match on the docket, but you can make sure to optimize the ones you do watch.

Here are four can't-miss matches in the Round of 16:

Roger Federer vs. Kei Nishikori

When to watch: Sunday, appx. 3 a.m. ET

Whether you're keeping yourself up until it starts, or catching a couple hours of sleep before dragging yourself out of bed, you probably don't want to miss this clash of dazzling finesse players.

Federer was transcendent in the third round, when he dismantled Tomas Berdych with clinical efficiency, losing just 14 service points across three sets and barely breaking a sweat during the 90-minute affair. He figures to have a much tougher time with Nishikori. The world No. 5 has mowed down his last two opponents after being pushed the distance in the first round, and has looked mostly healthy since being derailed by a hip injury in the Brisbane final.

The match will feature two of the game's best movers, and, in Federer's jumping forehand and Nishikori's jumping backhand, two of its most explosive and aesthetically satisfying strokes. Apart from the pretty rallies it should produce, this match is another opportunity to watch Federer rage against the dying of the light. Do not go gently into that good night without setting your alarm for this heater.

Angelique Kerber vs. CoCo Vandeweghe

When to watch: Sunday, appx. 5 a.m. ET

Vandeweghe has never made the quarterfinals at a hardcourt major, but the American baseliner has been playing some terrific tennis in Melbourne, and could pose a real threat to Kerber's hopes of repeating as champion.

Vandeweghe wriggled out of trouble multiple times in beating Eugenie Bouchard in the third round, and her heavy groundstrokes have done damage on a surface that's playing faster than it has in recent years.

Kerber, meanwhile, finally started to look like the world No. 1 in the third round after getting pushed to three sets in each of her first two matches. This should be a classic matchup of puncher and counterpuncher, cocksure novice and savvy vet. If nothing else, the contrast in style and temperament should make for fascinating viewing.

Rafael Nadal vs. Gael Monfils

When to watch: Monday, appx. 5 a.m. ET

You'd do well to put some popcorn on the stove and tune in for this blockbuster. Some of us have been looking forward to this matchup since the draw pitted Nadal and Monfils in the same eighth of the bracket.

Are there two more entertaining players in the sport? Does anyone bring more energy than Nadal, or play more to the crowd than Monfils? Does anyone have a deeper bag of trick shots than the Frenchman, or celebrate more emphatically than the Spaniard?

Nadal has won 12 of the pair's 14 head-to-head meetings, but 13 of those came prior to last season, when Monfils took his game to a new level. The one match they played in 2016 was a three-set corker in the Monte Carlo Masters final. Expect more of the same in Melbourne.

Karolina Pliskova vs. Daria Gavrilova

When to watch: Monday, appx. 3 a.m. ET

The timing of this match will make viewing a challenge, but rest assured, it will serve as an effective caffeine substitute.

Gavrilova is Russia-born, but she's now a naturalized Australian citizen, and thus the final hometown player remaining in either draw. The force of the crowd alone would make that worth watching, but Gavrilova also happens to be an eminently magnetic performer; a bouncing ball of nervy, kinetic energy who seems to perpetually teeter on the razor's edge between a burst of joy and a meltdown. She can also flat-out play, with quick and nimble feet, a deep arsenal of shots, and some serious wallop packed in her small frame.

Across the net will be her diametric opposite: the tall, deliberate, no-frills, ball-bashing, cool-as-a-cucumber Pliskova, who kept her title hopes alive with a rousing comeback over Jelena Ostapenko in the third round.

Pliskova's unflappable stoicism against Gavrilova's combustibility? Pliskova's torpedoing baseline power against Gavrilova's zippy, athletic retrieving? Sign us the heck up!

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