Second-round action will get underway on Tuesday in Barcelona, where Dominic Thiem is kicking off his campaign against Kyle Edmund. The first-round slate, meanwhile, includes Bernard Tomic and Dustin Brown.
(4) Dominic Thiem vs. Kyle Edmund
Thiem and Edmund will be squaring off for the first time in their careers when they clash in round two of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Tuesday. This should be Thiem’s favorite part of every season and it was last year, when he won the Nice title, finished runner-up in Munich, reached the Rome quarterfinals, and made a run to the French Open semis. Recently, however, the ninth-ranked Austrian has been in mediocre form and he is coming off a third-round loss in Monte-Carlo to David Goffin.
Edmund opened in Barcelona on Monday with a 6-3, 6-4 trouncing of Jeremy Chardy. The 42nd-ranked Brit owns nine ATP-level match victories in 2017 and his clay-court swing is off to a fine start. Prior to this week, Edmund beat countryman Dan Evans 7-5, 6-1 in the Monte-Carlo first round before taking a set off eventual champion Rafael Nadal in a 6-0, 5-7, 6-3 loss. This is a tough early test for Thiem, but on the slow stuff he can camp out many meters beyond the baseline in order to combat Edmund’s serve and forehand firepower.
Pick: Thiem in 2
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Bernard Tomic vs. Dustin Brown
Tomic and Brown will be going head-t0-head for the second time in their careers on Tuesday. Their only previous encounter came in round one of the 2014 U.S. Open, with Tomic getting the job done 7-6(2), 6-4, 7-6(3). Seemingly in his prime at 24 years old, however, the mercurial Australian still has not gotten things completely together. He is a mere 2-7 this season and struggling down at No. 41 in the world. On course to be unseeded at Roland Garros and beyond, Tomic dropped his first match of the clay-court swing 6-1, 7-6(3) to Diego Schwartzman in Monte-Carlo.
Brown is a slightly more respectable 5-9 for his 2017 campaign and he registers just 11 spots off his career-high ranking at 75th. The German is better on grass or a fast hard court, on which he can implement his net-charging and generally high-risk tactics, but he cannot be discounted on clay. Brown reached the French Open second round as a qualifier last spring and he recently advanced one round in Houston before losing 7-6(12), 6-4 to eventual champion Steve Johnson. Right now Brown has a clear edge in form and motivation level.
Pick: Brown in 2
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who ya got?
Thiem and Brown in 2. Tsame.
Ditto
Thiem in three brown in two I got dreddy over Murray next round
Really, Benny G. ? Dreddy over Andy? anything is possible; but I didn’t even think of that 😀
Murray struggling on clay lately. Dreddy actually playing well on this surface the past few seasons. Quality win over defending champ Monaco in Houston and was super close to taking down eventual champ Johnson.
Okay it’s all good. But I do hope you are wrong. I took Murray deep.
Murray will win.
#UnlikeHerbert
Lol sorry ratcliff I was in a hurry that’s why I kinda just bluntly typed my reasoning. Wasn’t trying to come off as like arrogant or anything. I could of course be wrong. I just have a feeling he will pull it off.
I’d never think you to be arrogant, Benny G. You have been scary good at picking now and then tho! I’m not sensitive about tennis picks, anyways 🙂 I’d quit if I was!
Sorry, do not see Murray losing to Dreddy. I’m picking Tomic to get past Brown in 3, mostly on the basis that Tomic will win a match again sometime. Maybe.
Andy’s had another week to heal and practice since his loss in MC.
Theim in 2, yes.
Ramara,
I think you make some good points about
Murray having an extra week to heal and practice. MC might have been a bit too soon.
I think that I ended up picking Tomic over Brown. I love your reasoning! He has to win a match some time!
I am not so sure that I should discount Benny’s prediction. He did predict Goffin beating Novak at MC! I am sure Murray will want a better result at Barcelona, but is he ready? I heard that he was serving about 20 mph slower in his match with ARV.
Maybe Benny is on a roll!
For my picks I am going with Thiem in 3 and Briwn in 2.
Nny,
No, I don’t discount any of Benny G’s picks! Genuinly surprised – but he always has a reason.
Andy should go farther than in MC is my reason for picking Andy — but I do have Andy losing before the final.
Btw, your bracket rocks!
rc,
Yes, I also picked Murray to go deep. As you saw! So we will see who is right! I just think that Murray has to get it together at some point. But I do pay attention to Benny! He knows his tennis and goes with his instincts.
You think my picks rock? I don’t know about that! I will get burned with Murray if Benny turns out to be right!
Nny
It’s perhaps premature to pick Murray as deep as we both have him. I didn’t know his serve was 20 mph slower than ARV’s last week. Ouch that sounds like too much rust. If I’d have known that, I’d have picked Lopez beating him – maybe even Dreddy!
rc,
Yes I worry that I have Murray going further that he will. I did know about him serving slower at MC. I heard it on the tennis channel.
But I think Ramara made a good point that a week has passed and Murray has had time to practice on that serve. I just think he will get going at some point.
I think that I picked Tomic over Brown in my bracket. I remember going back and forth between those two. You never know with Tomic.
We are going to find out if Benny the wonderkind strikes again! I know he said that he didn’t do well on his most recent picks, but anyone can have an off day!
I did pretty well with picks in Monte Carlo like for example I got three of the four picks right when picking the QF matches I just picked Cilic over Ramos which of course didn’t happen. Still on the first day in Barcelona and Budapest I haven’t done too great. Especially in Budapest. And I had brown losing to GGL but GGL is already out. Somehow lost to ancient Albert Montanes. At 36, he’s ranked 312 in the world and this is his last tournament of his career. He delayed his retirement a little other with an impressive win though.
lol, yes. Montanes wins again. I had decided to never pick him a year ago.
Bracket stats = 80.9% of 356 entrants picked Rafa to win Barcelona. Some brave souls picked Thiem or Murray = 8.7% and 5.1%, respectively. The leftover numbers were split by 8 various players: Goffin, A.Zverev, RBA, PBC, Cuevas; ARV, Gasquet and Kohlschreiber each got one vote.
http://www.tennisdrawchallenge.com/bracket/stats/2017-barcelona
And that’s up for Rafa from 66.7% of 363 brackets for Monte Carlo — and 15.7% for Rafa from 464 brackets for Miami!!
😀 fassscinating ?
Evans in 3 and Tomic in 3.
Tomic??????
Tomic won the match, in 3!
Tomic won in three.
#HerbertWillWin
To be fair to Ricky:
RT @tennisabstract: Tomic does the unthinkable and wins on clay, defeating Dustin Brown in Barcelona. His clay-court record vs the top 100 improves to 10-29.
Every dog has his clay? One commentator described Bernie’s style as “effortless”. :p
and do you mean EDMUND or Evans?
because there ain’t no way that EVANS would beat Thiem on CLAY!
Thiem in three,Brown in two.
Interesting comments about Murray.
I too think he’ll get going at some point soon,he was 4-0 up in the third against RV last week.Maybe that will kick start him.Thiem not playing too well and Cuevas choked last week.So,I have Murray and Goffin going far.
How…Safe to say I’m not having a great Barcelona and Budapest.
Oh boy… Looks like Zverev may not even have a chance to find his “redemption” he seeks- he’s down a break in the third set to Almagro.
Zverev breaks back.
Wow, good win for Zverev! I would love to see him and Rafa play again this week, and for it to be more competitive. I would also love to see Rafa get a win over Murray again. 🙂
Tomic takes out Dreddy. Tomic is so unpredictable.