Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will be getting right back in action at the French Open on Tuesday after contesting the Hamburg final on Sunday. Rublev opens with Sam Querrey, while Tsitsipas is set to face Jaume Munar.
Sam Querrey vs. (13) Andrey Rublev
Rublev captured his third title of the season this past week in Hamburg and he now takes his talents to Roland Garros for the third and final major of 2020. The Russian boasts an amazing 25-6 record for the season and is up to No. 12 in the world after completing a Hamburg run that included victories over Roberto Bautista Agut, Casper Ruud, and lastly Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final.
Up first for Rublev at the French Open on Tuesday is Querrey, who trails the head-to-head series 2-1. The 48th-ranked American unsurprisingly prevailed on his preferred grass-court surface via a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 decision at Wimbledon in 2019, but Rublev rolled to straight-set wins on hard courts later that summer in Winston-Salem and earlier this year in Adelaide. Clay will be even worse for Querrey, especially in these somewhat slow conditions. A red-hot Rublev should have no trouble, even if he is a little bit fatigued.
Pick: Rublev in 3
Jaume Munar vs. (5) Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas and Munar will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers on Tuesday. Their only previous encounter came at the 2018 NextGen ATP Finals, where the Greek got the job done 4-3, 4-3, 3-4, 4-2. Tsitsipas ended up triumphing at that event and then won a much different kind of year-end championship–the real one in London–12 months later. That cemented the Greek’s status as top five kind of player, and he currently stands at sixth in the world (seeded fifth due to Roger Federer’s absence).
Tsitsipas is coming off a solid runner-up showing in Hamburg, whereas Munar went back to the Challenger circuit after retiring in round one of the U.S. Open against eventual champion Dominic Thiem. The 103rd-ranked Spaniard, who is 3-7 on the main tour in 2020, suffered two bad losses at those two Challenger events. There is no reason to think he can make this one competitive.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 3
WWW?
Could be beat downs…Rub in 3; Tpas in 3.
Rublev on his way out! So much for pre-tournament form…
Rublev paying the price for winning that 500?
Shouldn’t lose in straight sets!
I did think it was crazy for him and Tsitsipas to be playing so close to RG.
Now he’s at least got to a 5th, a chance to win it the hard way…
I guess Rublev likes doing it the hard way. Hope he gets some rest in his bubble before Thursday.
Rublev and Tsitsi are young and dumb and wanted more match play on clay before RG. Rafa is older and wiser – he would have *liked* more match play but he knows better than to play a tournament the week before a slam.
T-pas in a hole, too.
Tsitsi pulled himself together to win the 3rd. Can he pull a Rublev? 🙂
Yes he could; he finally won the match in five. Once Tsitsipas raised his level, he’s able to beat Munar as he simply had more varieties in his game.
The first two sets he stayed at the baseline to rally with Munar but Munar played like a Djoko, getting every ball back so Tsitsipas was no match. When Tsitsipas fought back, he played with more varieties and not staying at the baseline all the time; it seemed that Tsitsipas had better stamina too than Munar; Munar seemed to have faded as the match went on into the fifth set.
Querrey had no business beating Rublev on this court. Munar had a definite chance . Great drama if the two meet again .
Querrey, a grand slam semi-finalist wasn’t going to let some kid 10 years his junior beat him easily even on his least favourite surface.
..and Munar is a quality clay courter. Went 3 close sets against Theim in Chile and only just lost to Carballés Baena, another quality clay courter who wiped the floor with Steve Johnson 1 1 and 0.
Querrey turns up for grand slams. He wouldn’t travel all the way to Paris during an interrupted season if he wasn’t in ready and in his usual grand slam competitive form which is quite a high standard.
Tsitsipas has shown no signs of the dominance he showed in 2018/2019 so 3-0 was very optimistic to say the least. I think Tsitsipas is still lacking a lot of confidence and will continue to struggle.
I know about Munar on clay.Querrey a GS semifinalist on grass. Rublev led in both first and second set should really have won in straight. I like Querrey he’s one of my favourites BTW
Don’t forget both Rublev and Tsitsipas had to travel from Hamburg to Paris after finishing their final match in Hamburg on Sunday, hence both did not have enough rest nor enough time to get used to the courts in Paris.
They both are really something, able to fight back when being two sets down, to get the victory in the end. If both of them are fresher, they might win in shorter time! I foresee them both moving to the later rounds at Paris, fourth round at least and may meet again, in the QF.
Tsitsipas is fortunate to have Cuevas next round. If he’s not too tired it could be a match he gains a lot of confidence from given he beat him in the Estoril final last year. However, Cuevas didn’t play that well and might be looking to make amends. Tsitsipas served incredibly well in that match from memory.
Just noticed Tsitsipas beat Cuevas in German final last week also so looks like Tsitsipas should win that one providing he’s not too tired.