The Big 3 are all in action in Paris on Thursday, with Novak Djokovic continuing his quest for a second French Open title when he faces Pablo Cuevas. Roger Federer resumes his comeback against fellow slam champ Marin Cilic.
(8) Roger Federer vs. Marin Cilic
Roger Federer has not been a kind matchup for Marin Cilic. They met 10 times between 2008 and 2019. Cilic managed to win just once–in the 2014 U.S. Open semifinals. The good news for the Croat is that he at least makes Federer work for it sometimes. Their last encounter was a five-set affair in the 2018 Australian Open final.
Cilic has had an odd season, with disappointing early losses punctuated by a few impressive results–including a pair of semifinals in Singapore and Estoril. Of course, Federer has had no season at all to speak of. The Swiss great went into the French Open having won a single match in 2021 in three tries.
Federer was in good form against first-round opponent Denis Istomin. He quickly found his range and showed his signature finesse and touch throughout the three-set victory. Cilic is in better form than Istomin, so Federer might be in for a sterner test on Thursday.
Cheryl pick: Federer in 4
Ricky pick: Cilic in 5
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Pablo Cuevas
Novak Djokovic has a modest two titles so far in 2021–but as he captured the Australian Open nursing a nasty abdomen injury, his year must be considered a resounding success. He has a loss to chief rival Rafael Nadal on the dirt, but he captured his second title on the clay in Belgrade just a few days ago.
Surprisingly, this is the first-ever meeting between Djokovic and Pablo Cuevas. Like Cilic, Cuevas has had an odd year. Until Geneva a couple of weeks ago, the world No. 92 had difficulty winning more than a match at a time. Then out of nowhere he made the semifinals after coming up through qualies. Cuevas defeated Lucas Pouille in straight sets in the first round.
Although Cuevas played well in Geneva in May, anything other than a comfortable straight-set win for Djokovic would be a shocking result.
Cheryl pick: Djokovic in 3
Ricky pick: Djokovic in 3
WWW?
Federer in a comfortable 4 sets
1.35-1.40 is about right.
Cilic looks like he’s in better form but he’s actually still sliding, almost out of the top 100.
Fed in 3; Cuevas may win 6-8 games.
Cilic really is a jerk!
Why. What he did
Novak started way after Roger and is already done with his match! Novak just had his second match practice, lol!
No he started 20 mns before Roger
Oh? Well i took cue from the commies as they never mentioned Novak’s match, unless they did and I didn’t hear them. But good Roger GTW in 4!
Complained about Fed to umpire saying umpire should warn Fed over some towels.
Then got in mood.
I dislike him really because he went on stage with a known Nazi then posted snaps of them hugging. Evidently this doesn’t give me warm cuddly feelings about him.
Didn’t see the match, but from highlights it looked like the clay was playing very fast.
They interviewed Fed on the tennis channel and he said it was playing fast.
On tv it looked real slow …how can clay play fast
I can only quote what Fed said. I am not there and would have no idea his it’s playing.
Why am I sensing a fed upset of novak is not ruled out esp if it’s given night billing . Ofcourse if fed gets past berretini only