Roger Federer will begin his quest for a sixth U.S. Open title when he takes the court on Monday against Grega Zemlja. Dmitry Tursunov and Aljaz Bedene are also in opening-day action.
(7) Roger Federer vs. Grega Zemlja
Federer and Zemlja will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers and for the second time this season when they do battle in round one of the U.S. Open on Monday night. Both of their previous encounters have gone Federer’s way; 6-2, 6-3 at the 2012 Doha event and 6-3, 6-1 earlier this year on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam. The 32-year-old Swiss, however, is down at No. 7 in the world because he is just 32-11 for his 2013 campaign with one title on the grass courts of Halle. Federer is coming off a quarterfinal showing in Cincinnati, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in three sets.
Zemlja’s season is highlighted by an upset of Grigor Dimitrov en route to the Wimbledon third round. The Slovenian registers at 62nd in the world, 19 spots off his career-high mark that he achieved last month. Zemlja is 13-19 at the ATP level this year and he does not have a main-draw victory since his performance at the All-England Club. Federer often gets off to a relatively slow start at Grand Slams, but all signs point to a straightforward win.
Pick: Federer in 3, losing 11-13 games
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Aljaz Bedene vs. (32) Dmitry Tursunov
Bedene and Tursunov will be squaring off for the second time in their careers on Monday afternoon. Their only previous encounter came earlier this month in Cincinnati qualifying, with Tursunov prevailing 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3. The 34th-ranked Russian parlayed that win into a quarterfinal run in the main draw. A healthy, rejuvenated Tursunov is an impressive 22-14 at the ATP level this season. In addition to his strong play in Cincinnati, hard-court results this summer include a semifinal in Washington, D.C. and a quarterfinal in Winston-Salem.
It has been somewhat of a different story for Bedene, who started the year in fine form and reached a career-high ranking of No. 71 in the world in February. The Slovenian, though, has won only two of his last seven matches (qualifiers and Challengers included) and he is now outside the Top 100 at 106th in the rankings. This is not one of the easier first-round draws for Tursunov, but he is a streaky player who feeds off confidence and he has a lot of it right now.
Pick: Tursunov in 4
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Federer starts slowly because he is the master of pacing himself at the slams. He doesn’t believe in expending energy unnecessarily.
Slow start? No way.
Fed and his fans (including me) will want to get done with this one as quickly as he can.
abhirf: My comment earlier was a generalisation – not a prediction. If he starts off the way he was playing in the Cincy SF, I agree the match will be done and dusted PDQ.