Novak Djokovic will try to take another step toward defending his Paris title when he goes up against Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday. Third-round action is also continuing with a showdown between Kei Nishikori and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (14) Grigor Dimitrov
The No. 1 ranking is on the line at this week’s BNP Paribas Masters and Djokovic needs three more victories to deny Andy Murray any chance of overtaking him at the top spot. If Djokovic reaches the final, Murray cannot become No. 1–at least not until after the World Tour Finals–even if the second-ranked Scot captures the Paris title. Djokovic’s post-French Open slump has left the door open for Murray, but the Serb at least managed to pick up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Gilles Muller on Wednesday.
Up next for the defending champion three-time defending champion during third-round competition on Thursday is a seventh career meeting with Dimitrov, who is trailing the head-to-head series 6-1. They have not faced each other since 2014, when Djokovic won a four-setter in the Wimbledon semifinals and scored a 6-2, 6-4 win in the Beijing quarters. Whereas Djokovic’s cold streak seems to be in progress, Dimitrov’s came this spring. The 18th-ranked Bulgarian has dug out of it in impressive fashion, with a runner-up performance in Beijing and three semifinal showings (including in Cincinnati) among his second-half results. Unless the battle for the No. 1 ranking inspires Djokovic to get his game back in shape, Dimitrov looks poised for an upset.
Pick: Dimitrov in 3
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(5) Kei Nishikori vs. (11) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Nishikori and Tsonga will be squaring off for the eighth time in their careers on Thursday. The head-to-head series stands at 5-2 in favor of Nishikori, who most recently destroyed the Frenchman 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at this year’s Australian Open. They faced each other at this same Paris event in both 2013 and 2014, with Nishikori surviving three-setters on both occasions; 9-7 in a decisive tiebreaker and then via a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 decision.
Tsonga must win the title this week if he wants to qualify for the World Tour Finals. The world No. 13 knows it can be done, because he accomplished the feat in front of the home crowd back in 2008. His quest for another title got off to a strong start in the form of a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Nishikori, as usual, has not been 100 percent physically during the second half of this season. Still, he is coming off a runner-up finish in Basel and he took care of Viktor Troicki 6-2, 7-5 on Wednesday. This should be a good one, in which Tsonga has a very real chance of avenging his two previous Paris defeats at the hands of the current world No. 4.
Pick:Â Tsonga in 3
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who ya got?
Ricky im definitely a Nole fan, have been since day one… He will win. Funny how his slump still includes a US Open final loss to Stan (no shame in that), yes he hasnt won a 1000 event in a while, but honestly I believe all the pressure is on Murray at this tournament and quietly Nole will go about his business with just the right amount of motivation needed
Often his 90% is better than most peoples 100%, he is that good. So many thought Muller will blow him away, did not even come close facing only one break point if im not mistaken?? In comparison with the Murray matchup against Verdasco…
Muller blowing Djoko away? Lol! Havent heard about that; its more like Verdasco blowing anyone away (when his game is on)!
Djoko didnt need to do much, just kept the ball in play and Muller would sure to miss soon. Muller himself had said earlier on, that he preferred to play against Fed instead of Rafa/Djoko, as points were shorter vs Fed, Rafa/Djoko kept the points in play rallies after rallies and Muller didnt like rallies!
Lol who said what now???
It literally hadn’t crossed my mind that Dimitrov might beat Djokovic until I read this. I just don’t feel it, much as I’d love it to happen. Grigor’s form is still very mediocre at best. Those semi final showings consisted of him beating Lajovic and Schwartzman before losing to Ramos-Vinolas and beating Zopp and an off-the-boil Anderson in Chengdu before falling to Delpo (far more forgiveable) on home turf in Sweden. He followed that up by getting straight setted by Pospisil in Shanghai so my hopes are very low for him today. But, as I say, I do hope you’re right. I will watch with interest to see how vulnerable Djoker looks. He is for sure beatable right now, but Cilic is the one I have pegged to deliver the knockout blow.
I think Nishikori will take care of Tsonga. He’s gna break the backhand down too often.
To respond to Denzil- please point me in th direction of anyone who thought Muller would blow Novak away…. I don’t believe this person exists! To be fair I thought it might be pretty close due to Novaks slump ( and yes, it is a slump) and Mullers good form, but Novak, who has the most ridiculous streak here, was always going to stroll his own service games and have a look at a few of Mullers, so there was never any chance of him being blown away. Miller pretty much never blows anyone away for that matter!
Djoker in 2, Nishi in 3
Boom! Right on the money.
I’d say Djokovic and Nishikori in three.
Ricky there’s a typo in your picks. You said dum dum in 3.
That’s one really wacky pick. You feeling ok?
Nole in two.
Kei in three.
I would be surprised if Tsonga lost to Nishikori. With London on the line, playing at home, and currently enjoying his tennis, it’s a victory he really should come away with.
As for Djokovic… I think when it comes to it, he will not let go of that ranking easily. It’s built into his system, wherever his mentality lies at present. I also think the extent of his struggles have been exaggerated (he’s still 15-3 since Wimbledon.) Dimitrov can unravel against the elite when he’s not able to push through, and this will be a very different task to the one he faced in Nadal in Shanghai.
Novak in 2, i dont think Dimo has the arsenal to trouble him ….
LOL…Muller blowing Nole away?? That is pure science fiction and totally ridiculous.,,Nole’s 50% would always beat a 100% Muller.,,
Don’t belive Dimitrov stands any chance today, not even to steal a set from Nole…Novak although not playing at his best seems highly motivated to keep his No1 place…
The only people that would pick Muller would have been antijinxing Nole fans.
And Nole would have to play at 50% to lose this to dim-dim.
Nole will hug his way to victory.
#HugsAreEverywhere
Miller played way, way too many points from the baseline and seemed reluctant to really red line his groundstrokes and go for big winners while he was there. He lost nearly every single rally from back there so I have no idea what his game plan was really or why he didn’t change it as the match went on. Going for broke and rushing the net non stop was his best bet. He played into novaks hads and we should learn more about where the Serb’s game is at today. Still going for 2-0 despite this looking like a slightly tougher test
I hope for his own sake that Novak gets pummeled by Dimitrov and stops this retarded charade he’s going around preaching with that charlatan Pepe.
LOL it will take more than a loss to dim-dim for Nole to trash a new idea that quickly.
Pepe will last at least as long as Todd Martin did (i.e., a month or two).
I like Nole a lot and hope, Pepe will not be much around….Just try to imagine a boxer with such a coach. LMAO
@ Mikkers.
Seconded.
Djoker in three and Tsonga in three
He is (or should be) highly motivated to get the chance to take a tilt at Murray but I keep imagining him striding onto court dressed in a flowing unbuttoned white shirt over baggy trousers to face him. Mind you it could work – Andy would be so non-plussed he’ll lose concentration, lol.
It struck me the Bercy crowd looked pretty stony-faced during his ‘sharing his love’ routine after the match with Muller. At least he didn’t try to make the ball kids join in the ritual.
Disappointing performance by Dimi in the last two sets. He didn’t know how to sieze the moments when Djoko was there for the taking. He just couldn’t hang on to his winning momentum from the first set and played so poorly after that. Djoko wasn’t even at full strength and yet Dimi couldn’t capitalize. I hope Cilic does better than Dimi and I think he will as he’s of a higher caliber (than Dimi).
Congrats to Me (and everyone else).
Commies to Ricky.
Murray playing very well despite being a bit tired and despite Pouille being aggressive. This match is of better quality than that Dimi vs Djoko match.
I do hope Murray can finally get to no.1 as he’s really playing very good tennis at the moment and for the past six months or so.
Ditto. After being in the No. 4 spot of the Big Four generally speaking for so long, he deserves his turn as top dog.
Woof! Woof!
Murray plays like the no.1 player now, about to bagel the no.17 guy Pouille, whilst the current no.1 player got to fight hard to hold off the no.18 guy.
Murray is just so good in anticipating the moves of his opponent, hits some unbelievable passing shots like Djoko in the earlier match, and is hitting winners from all over the place, impressive!
Wow, Pouille only managed to get three games from Murray! Murray is simply of a different class from Pouille. I hope Murray can at least get to the final here.
Novak hasnt played for a while, hes probably just rusty, it was a rather up and down performance, which was to be expected, he got the job done in the end, and im sure he will be better in the next round, and it looks like hes really dialed in for keeping this number 1 ranking, this was probably the type of match he needed ….
Carole Bouchard ‏@carole_bouchard 7m7 minutes ago
Fair to say that it was a “not in the mood” press conference from Novak…
Tough match for Kei in Paris. Not sure if the crowd bothers him. Kei can deal with it. But I do think Jo thrives on the love and crowd support. That’s why I picked Jo to win this match-up this time. Kei could still sneak out the win, tho.
Hi RC Love them both, dont care which one wins, agree on JWT i think the crowd gets him through ….
BTW Just been attacked by a certain person, on a certain forum, but ill do what you do from now on just ignore that particular person from now on ….
Hi Alison,
Margot picked Kei in that match and she also picked Gilles Simon to beat Berdych so I was/ and still am rooting for Margot’s bracket 🙂 I wanted Kei to win but Jo has been on the rise: good news about being a dad at home has to lift his spirits and he’s said he wants to improve his ranking ahead of AO. My guess was that the only one in his draw who could beat him was Andy Murray in Paris-Bercy.
But there’s still Raonic standing in the way of Jo and the SF. Allez Jo!
Oh, I’ll email you on the other matter, alison.
Hawkeye what was wrong with Novak in his press conference ? ….
It started out quite promisingly for Kei, still well done Jo ….
I Like Jo, that smile is to die for, he is a nice guy though ….