French Open R1 previews and predictions: Federer vs. Sonego, Dimitrov vs. Tipsarevic

Roger Federer will be back in action at the French Open for the first time since 2015 when he takes the court against Lorenzo Sonego on Sunday. Day 1 also includes a first-round battle between Grigor Dimitrov and veteran Janko Tipsarevic.

Lorenzo Sonego vs. (3) Roger Federer

Federer’s first season on clay since 2016 will concluded with his first appearance at the French Open in four years after he skipped it in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The Swiss missed it in 2016 due to injury before deciding not to play on the red stuff at all the following two years. Federer prepared for his return trip to Paris by turning up in Madrid and also–more surprisingly–in Rome. The 37-year-old advanced to the Madrid quarterfinals (lost to Dominic Thiem) and reached the same stage of the next Masters 1000 event before withdrawing. Federer cited a leg issue but mainly did not want to risk anything after playing two matches on the same day (beat Joao Sousa in straight sets and Borna Coric 9-7 in a third-set tiebreaker).

Up first for Federer on Sunday is Sonego, whom the world No. 3 has never faced. Sonego has earned nine of his 14 career ATP-level match victories this season and he registers seven spots off his best-ever ranking at 73rd. The 24-year-old Italian has been a qualifying machine on clay, going 4-for-4 in such efforts over the past two months. After successfully playing his way into the Monte-Carlo main draw, Sonego made a run to the Monte-Carlo quarterfinals (lost to eventual runner-up Dusan Lajovic). An in-form Sonego cannot be discounted on this surface, but this stage is a big one for him and Federer did exactly what he set out to do in Madrid and Rome by picking up confidence.

Pick: Federer in 3 losing 11-14 games

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Janko Tipsarevic vs. Grigor Dimitrov

Dimitrov and Tipsarevic will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers and in the first round of a second consecutive slam when they meet again on Sunday. Tipsarevic still leads the head-to-head series 4-2 despite falling to Dimitrov 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 at the Australian Open. Mostly absent from tennis over the past few seasons, Tipsarevic has defeated Dimitrov only once since the end of 2012 and the Bulgarian won their only previous clay-court encounter at the 2013 Monte-Carlo Masters via a 7-6(3), 6-1 decision.

Tipsarevic missed all of 2018–and also all of 2014, for that matter–due to various injuries, mostly foot related. The 34-year-old Serb has not won more than eight matches in a season since 2013 and he is 3-3 so far during his 2019 campaign. That includes a quarterfinal appearance in Houston, where he beat Tennys Sangren and Cameron Norrie before falling to Sam Querrey. Dimitrov continues to struggle, finding himself down at 47th in the rankings after peaking at No. 3 when he won the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals. Still, the Bulgarian has advanced multiple rounds at five different tournaments in 2019 and he should once again be too tough in a best-of-five situation for an opponent who remains rusty.

Pick: Dimitrov in 4

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