Stefanos Tsitsipas will be hoping to take another step forward in his breakout 2018 campaign when he faces Diego Schwartzman on Wednesday in Barcelona. The second-round schedule also includes Grigor Dimitrov vs. Gilles Simon.
(7) Diego Schwartzman vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
Schwartzman and Tsitsipas will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they collide in round two of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Wednesday. Their only previous meeting came last fall on the indoor hard courts of Antwerp, where Schwartzman prevailed 7-5, 6-3. The 17th-ranked Argentine enjoyed his best season on tour in 2017 and he is off to a strong start in 2018 with a 15-8 record. That includes a 500-point title on the red clay of Rio de Janeiro in addition to a fourth-round performance at the Australian Open. Schwartzman, though, is just 2-4 in his last six ATP tournament matches and he lost three sets by 6-2 scorelines or worse last week in Monte-Carlo (beat Guido Pella 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 before falling to Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-1).
After missing the inaugural NextGen Finals by just one spot in 2017, Tsitsipas is truly announcing himself on tour this season. Having previously won four main-tour matches in his entire career, the 19-year-old Greek already owns seven such victories in 2018. He has reached two ATP quarterfinals and made it to the Monte-Carlo second round as a qualifier (defeated Denis Shapovalov before succumbing to David Goffin 7-6(4), 7-5). Tsitsipas’ clay-court game appears to be the real deal, while Schwartzman looks ripe for an upset at the moment.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 3
[polldaddy poll=9988308]
Gilles Simon vs. (2) Grigor Dimitrov
Dimitrov and Simon will be squaring off for the ninth time in their careers when they meet again on Wednesday. Simon is leading the head-to-head series 5-3, including 2-0 on clay, but Dimitrov has won three of their last four encounters. They faced each other four times in 2016, when Simon cruised 6-4, 6-3 in Monte-Carlo while Dimitrov got the job done on hard courts in Brisbane and Cincinnati to go along with a four-set victory at Wimbledon.
Simon’s slump mostly explains why they never collided last year, but he is back in business to some extent this season. The 70th-ranked Frenchman, who captured a title in Pune, already owns 12 victories at the ATP level–just two less than Dimitrov. Simon is a solid 4-2 on clay following an impressive 6-2, 6-3 rout of an in-form Ilya Ivashka on Tuesday. Dimitrov, who earned a first-round bye as Barcelona’s No. 2 seed, is coming off a semifinal showing in Monte-Carlo. The fifth-ranked Bulgarian beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and David Goffin before struggling physically in a 6-4, 6-1 setback against eventual champion Rafael Nadal. Three full days off should help Dimitrov, who will be aided by the fact that Simon is 1-14 in his last 15 matches against top-five opponents dating back to March of 2015.
Pick: Dimitrov in 2
[polldaddy poll=9988179]
who ya got?
Diego FTW.