Grigor Dimitrov will begin his Queen’s Club title defense when he takes the court against Sam Querrey on Monday. Roberto Bautista Agut and Fernando Verdasco are also in first-round action.
Sam Querrey vs. (6) Grigor Dimitrov
Dimitrov hopes a trend continues from last year, when he lost in round one of the Freench Open then won the AEGON Championships. The defending Queen’s Club champion also dropped his Roland Garros opener in 2015, but this time around he has even less momentum heading into the grass-court swing. Dimitrov is a modest 18-11 on the season and 1-3 in his last four matches.
Up first for the No. 6 seed is a second career meeting with Querrey. The two competitors previously faced each other at the 2013 Washington, D.C. event, where Dimitrov cruised 6-3, 6-2. Querrey thoroughly underwhelmed on European clay after finishing runner-up to Jack Sock in Houston. But the American is more dangerous on grass, a surface that saw him reach the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2010. The upset alert has to be sounded with Dimitrov in lackluster form, but he should manage to scrape through against an opponent who often folds at the end of competitive matches.
Pick: Dimitrov in 3
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Fernando Verdasco vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
Bautista Agut and Verdasco will be squaring off for the third time in their careers on Monday. The head-to-head series stands at an even 1-1 between the two Spaniards, with Verdasco prevailing 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 on the clay courts of Hamburg in 2013 before Verdasco scored revenge one year later with a 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 victory in Madrid.
Saddled with the pressure of defending a title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last week, Bautista Agut endured a tough start to his grass-court swing. Coming off a blowout loss to Lukas Rosol in the French Open second round, the world No. 21 fell at the same stage of the Topshelf Open to eventual champion Nicolas Mahut. Verdasco bowed out in similar fashion to Robin Haase, so he is also looking to pick up some grass-court momentum prior to Wimbledon. The 31-year-old reached the Wimbledon quarters in 2013 and he has advanced to the fourth round on three other occasions, so he knows what he is doing on grass.
Pick: Verdasco in 3
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Why doesn’t Dimitrov get rid of Roger Rasheed?
it’s coming