Cincinnati R3 previews and picks: Murray vs. Isner, Wawrinka vs. Cilic

August 14, 2014 Ricky Match previews 66

Murray 1A tough third-round matchup on Thursday in Cincinnati will pit Andy Murray against John Isner. Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic are also looking for a place in the quarterfinals.

(8) Andy Murray vs. (11) John Isner

Murray and Isner will be colliding for the third time in their careers when they do battle in round three of the Western & Southern Open on Thursday. Both of their previous meetings have gone Murray’s way; 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-2 at the 2010 Australian Open and 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) in the 2011 quarterfinals. Isner, though, is now a staple of the top 15. The 2013 Cincinnati runner-up is in the midst of his favorite time of year. He has not been completely on fire this summer, but the 6’10” American at least captured a title in Atlanta and he made routine work of Kevin Anderson and Marinko Matosevic in his first two matches this week.

Whereas Isner really needs a win to defend some of his points, Murray could use some momentum heading into the U.S. Open. The ninth-ranked Scot lost listlessly to Grigor Dimitrov in the Wimbledon quarterfinals and he won just a single match last week in Toronto before bowing out to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Murray is 33-13 for the year after easing past Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-3 in the second round on Thursday. The two-time major champion has fallen prior to the quarters of this event twice in a row, but the conditions in Cincinnati suit Isner perfectly.

Pick: Isner in 3

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(3) Stan Wawrinka vs. (14) Marin Cilic

Cilic and Wawrinka will be facing each other for the ninth time in their careers on Thursday. Wawrinka leads the head-to-head series 6-2, but they have split their four hard-court encounters at two wins apiece. They most recently squared off earlier this season on the clay of Monte-Carlo, where Wawrinka dominated 6-0, 6-2. The Australian Open champion, however, has cooled off in recent months. He lost his opening match at Roland Garros and after a Wimbledon quarterfinal appearance he fell in the Toronto third round to Anderson. Wawrinka opened on Tuesday with a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Benjamin Becker.

It has been an outstanding season for Cilic, who boasts a 40-15 record after sitting out four months during the second half of last year due to suspension. The 19th-ranked Croat reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals (lost to Novak Djokovic in five sets) and is coming off a third-round showing at the Rogers Cup (lost to Roger Federer in three sets). So far in Cincinnati, he has taken out Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco. All signs point to a huge hard-court summer for Cilic and it should continue into this week’s quarters.

Pick: Cilic in 3

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66 Comments on Cincinnati R3 previews and picks: Murray vs. Isner, Wawrinka vs. Cilic

  4. Don’t know who is in the chair for the Foginin-Lu match but Foggy is rabbiting on and on about something and the umpire told him I don’t want to hear from you until the end of the match. Foggy keeps talking to him but is being completely ignored. Good tactic!

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  6. And John takes the 1st set, winning the tiebreak. Have I mentioned lately how much I dislike big serve tennis? No? Well, let me mention it for the 1000th time. I don’t like it.

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  23. I;m tipping Murray for the title. That win over Isner was impressive. I don’t want to see Muzz outside the top 10, he is better than that.

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  24. Djokovic is really struggling. Has not been able to find any rhythm. And you cannot win close matches when badly regularly unless you are rafa ! Rafa can still find his way but djokovic cannot do that as regularly

    rafa would have taken the lead in the ATP race had he been playing .Anyway, lets hope and pray rafa gives us a good news tomorrow !

    Reply

    • @vamosrafa,

      I was surprised to come on here and find out that once again Novak crashes out early. He’s really not starting off this summer hard court season with a bang now, is he? I keep forgetting to watch these matches. Then I have to remember that ESPN starts showing the matches and not the tennis channel.

      Good for Murray to get past the big serving machine! I would really like to see him win here. He could use it. I want to see him get back up in the rankings again. Fed did it, so Murray certainly can do it.

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  25. Fed may well lose to Monfils. If Monfils is serious about his game today, he will stand a very good chance. I tip monfils for the win ! Even if fed wins, he will find it very hard to get a win over Muzz. Muzz seems to be the fav to reach the final from his half

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      • too many uncertainties about monfils. i am assuming he is at least serious about his game lol

        and remember that fed has played lots of tennis . His last match was also a three setter….could become a factor..

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    • I think if Tsonga could beat Fed to win a Masters title, then Monfils is capable of doing so. Fed can’t lways sustain a high level of play these days. Sometimes guys like Tsonga and Monfils do actually bring the goods in a match. They are both very athletic and talented, but they don’t have it between the ears. Also, they both have trouble staying injury free. But I don’t think Fed is invulnerable these days.

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  26. What just happened? Djokovic cannot string wins on his favourite surface? What a tosser! I remember how orbituaries were written over Rafa during the clay season, shall we hear the same over Djokovic? I am not holding my breath……

    Where is the real GOAT when you need him…..

    #Rafa

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  27. Ahem…….

    The best returner of all time, that will be ROAT I guess, the world #1, managed to win all of 26% of return points and 29% of second serve return points against……….Tommy Robredo………..on his best surface.

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  29. I guess he’s out of kilter having woken up to the fact his Jack the Lad days are over and he has to knuckle down to the realities of family life.

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      • For about 30% of the match, LaMonf was truly impressive, but for most of the first set and key moments of the third, it was like he was just hitting balls in practise, especially with his serve and it was still a close match.

        If Muzza plays close to how he played yesterday, he should handle fed in two straight forward matches.

        He was up 0-30 on Fed’s serve and he failed to challenge a line call that would have put him up 0-40 but dumb umpire convinced him not to challenge claiming his ball was long.

        Ri. Dic. U. Lous.

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  32. So much for the BB input. I ‘d give a lot to be a fly on the wall when Team Djokovic are in conference. I can’t say I’ve seen much improvement in his game since BB was taken on unless coming to the net more often counts – unfortunately BB doesn’t seem to have made much impression on Djokovic’s technique when he gets there 😀 His main activity appears to be as an extra cheerleader in the stands and generating tweets.

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  35. I thought Monfils gave a good account of himself winning the second set. He didn’t just roll over. I am looking forward to Murray/Fed. I like Andy’s chances.

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      • Yes, Andy has a winning record vs both of them but on any given day, as a big serving giant, Isner can take the racquet out of anyone’s hand.

        Andy doesn’t need to play as well to beat Fed. Lamonf was all over the place treating most of the match like practise and still went to three sets.

        Reply

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