The marquee matchup of the Madrid Masters second round pits Stefanos Tsitsipas against Dominic Thiem on Saturday. Ben Shelton is kicking off his fortnight in what will be a big-serving battle with Jan-Lennard Struff.
(WC) Dominic Thiem vs. (4) Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas and Thiem will be squaring off for the ninth time in their careers and for the first time since 2020 when they finally meet again in round two of the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday. Thiem leads the head-to-head series 5-3, but the fact that they haven’t played each other in a while is mostly due to Thiem’s absence related to a wrist injury. Although the 29-year-old Austrian is winning a fair amount of matches in 2023, it has come with wild inconsistency. Thiem is 7-11 at the ATP level this season following his 6-4, 6-1 win over Kyle Edmund on Thursday.
In two of his four Madrid appearances Tsitsipas has reached the semifinals and the final. The fifth-ranked Greek has a good chance of making it back to the title match in the opposite half of the draw from Carlos Alcaraz and with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal out of the tournament. Coming off a runner-up showing in Barcelona, Tsitsipas will likely be too good for an opponent who still isn’t close to the same as his former self.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 2
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(LL) Jan-Lennard Struff vs. (32) Ben Shelton
It has already been an entertaining week for Struff, who beat Luca Nardi in the first round of qualifying and then lost to Aslan Karatsev. The 65th-ranked German got a new lease on Madrid life with a lucky-loser spot in the main draw and capitalized on it by destroying Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday.
Up next for Struff is a first-ever meeting with Shelton, who benefited from multiple withdrawals to get the No. 32 seed and the final opening-round bye. The 38th-ranked American will like the fast conditions in Madrid, but he is still very much a clay-court novice. Struff, on the other hand, has enjoyed plenty of success on dirt throughout his career and with three matches already under his belt this week he should have a slight edge.
Pick: Struff in 3
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WWW?
Tsi in 2; Ben pulls it out in 3.
This Thiem / Tsitsipas match is good. Thiem took the first st and Tsitsioas the second, even in the third.
I need the Greek to win for my bracket, but it’s great having Thiem back!
Yes, Dominic is back! Fingers crossed 🤞💪
The altitude is nothing for Dom.
Thiem played Tsitsi very close. I still don’t know if he is back though. He has been very erratic. One minute you think he is getting back to his best and then he has a terrible loss to a low ranked player…
Nobody will want to play him in the first round of RG …
Yesterday was the first time I paid any attention to Thiem this season. He can hang with the best, and he showed that much. But whether he will want to keep working and playing at that best level, I don’t know.
I agree that wherever he lands in the draw, he is potentially dangerous.
What is wrong with Ruud? I keep picking him to win and get burned.
He reminded me of why I used to like watching him. I don’t know why he has been out, if he was injured physically, or what has taken so long to return.