Dominic Thiem and Fabio Fognini clash on Thursday in a battle of two clay-court giants with a spot in the Mutua Madrid Open quarterfinals on the line. Meanwhile, Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco takes on youngster Stefanos Tsitsipas.
(5) Dominic Thiem vs. (10) Fabio Fognini
The two men who beat Rafael Nadal on clay earlier this spring are set for a third round clash at the Madrid Masters. Dominic Thiem has been the second-best clay-courter in the world for the past two years behind Rafael Nadal. And this year, with Nadal lacking match play and struggling (by his standards) on the dirt, Thiem now has one more clay-court title than does the Spanish legend. The Austrian played magnificent clay-court tennis in Barcelona and once again looks in devastating form this week.
Veteran Fabio Fognini gave the tennis world quite a shock when he defeated Nadal in Monte-Carlo, traditionally one of the Spaniard’s best events. And though Nadal did not play up to his usual standard, Fognini played a brilliant semifinal match to get past the world No. 2. Fognini breezed through his first two matches this week with easy straight-set wins over Kyle Edmund and John Millman.
Provided conditions have improved from Wednesday, this should be a real barn burner of a match. Both men are in good form, and both are skilled dirt-ballers. Thiem has the advantage of a steady temperament, something the Italian would not be accused of even on his most placid day. Look for a hard fought three sets, with Thiem just snagging the win.
Cheryl pick: Thiem in 3
Ricky pick: Thiem in 2
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(8)Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Fernando Verdasco
Such is the star power at the Madrid Masters, that popular Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco and NextGen star Stefanos Tsitsipas are relegated to playing on Court 3. It should be an outside-court treat.
Verdasco, 35, is likely closing in on the last years of his career–but he still sits at No. 38 in the world. Although he has not enjoyed a fantastic 2019 so far, but he usually manages to make his way through the first few matches of a tournament. Tsitsipas just lifted his first clay-court trophy in Estoril. The new tour star has been flitting right around the top 10 players in the world since March; he currently sits at No. 9, but until he made the run to the title last week he had come up a bit short during the European clay-court swing. Specifically, he won two matches in two tournaments.
The crowd will be enthusiastically behind Verdasco, but the Spaniard has had his own hard time on the dirt in 2019. Coming into Madrid, Verdasco had a single match win in three tries. Tsitsipas is a good clay-courter, and with his confidence back he should dispatch Verdasco without much difficulty.
Cheryl pick: Tsitsipas in 2
Ricky pick: Tsitsipas in 2
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Verdasco’s a funny one. He’ll see Tsitsipas as a worthy scalp and in his playground – on clay in Spain. Tsitsipas hasnt played any serious clay courters yet (Goffin coming back from injury, far from his best evidenced by his loss to Fucsovic and a Cuevas is just not consistently motivated these days)
I see a potential upset in this one because Verdasco is a top 5-10 clay courter when he brings game.
Verdasco in 3
Theim should swing back into gear after his first round hiccup and a bit of reflection and will see Fognini as a worthy opponent, deserving of his full attention. The conditions in Madrid favour Theim as well and with each passing match that should come more into play.
Theim in 2
Furthermore, Titsipas has been doing a tremendous amount of damage with his first serve (what’s his first percentage past week, 90%? He didnt miss in the Estoril final). On clay, Verdasco has a prety good ROT and see Titsipas having to win a lot more points from the back the court which wont bode well for him. Verdasco wont get unsettled by Titsipas’ urgency (which unsettled Cuevas for a set and a half) and will control the speed of play.
Fog fog fog
Thiem in 2…he will just wear down Fog;…….And Vco rises to the occasion…in 3…Vamos!
There’s no page for Djokovic-Chardy, so I’ll comment here. Chardy just had set point against Novak, but of course couldn’t take it. How much you wanna bet that Chardy now immediately gets broken to let Novak serve for the match? Same old story.
now something like 0-for-30 in sets against Djoker
Wow! I never knew that Chardy had never even gotten a set… I wonder how many times he’s at least gotten to set point like today?
Let me guess: not many!
I attended my first and only tournament featuring the Big Four in Toronto in 2010. I got tickets for both sessions on quarterfinals day. At that point the Big Four were pretty much a shoo-in for the quarters (I think Rafa owned the record for consecutive Masters quarters at that point) and I wanted to see all of them. Nice day – Murray v Nalbandian, Rafa v Kohli, Fed v Berdy and Djoker v Chardy. I got three great matches but only watched about 5 or 6 games of the Djoker match cuz clearly Chardy was No Match for him! Thus it ever was. Djoker had had a relatively poor year up to then but he was warming up on the court behind the stands I was in and nearby folks were oohing and ahhing over his easy depth and power.