Another Rafael Nadal vs. Lukas Rosol installment will take place on Monday during first-round action on the indoor hard courts of Basel. Dominic Thiem is also part of the schedule, as he goes up against Robin Haase.
Lukas Rosol vs. (3) Rafael Nadal
Nadal and Rosol will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers when they meet again in round one of the Swiss Indoors Basel on Monday evening. Rosol, of course, famously beat Nadal at Wimbledon with a 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 upset in 2012. But the head-to-head series now stands at 2-1 in the Spaniard’s favor thanks to a pair of victories in 2014; he prevailed 6-2, 7-6(7) in Doha and 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-4 back at the All-England Club–again in the second round.
An indoor hard court will give Rosol a decent chance of successfully executing first-strike tennis, but the window of opportunity to take advantage of a sub-par Nadal this season may have closed. The 14-time major champion reached the final in Beijing, losing only one set to an in-form Jack Sock until facing Novak Djokovic, and made a run to the Shanghai semifinals. Rosol is a disappointing 19-28 at the ATP level in 2015 but coming off a decent quarterfinal performance in Vienna. The 30-year-old Czech is 5-4 this fall, with one Davis Cup match victory and a terrible loss in the first-round of an outdoor hard-court Challenger. Unless Rosol puts in an astronomical percentage of first serves and dictates play almost the entire way, this should be mostly routine for Nadal.
Pick: Nadal in 2 with no tiebreakers
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Dominic Thiem vs. (Q) Robin Haase
Haase has already played four matches in Basel–two in singles qualifying and two in doubles qualifying. The Dutchman lost with partner Sergiy Stakhovsky but took care of business by himself with straight-set victories over Adrien Bossel and Benjamin Becker. He is 15-20 at the ATP level this season and coming off a quarterfinal showing in Moscow, where he fell to Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-4.
Up next for Haase is Thiem, against whom the qualifier is 2-0 lifetime. The Austrian went down at home in Vienna last fall via a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 decision before getting clobbered by Haase 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3. Thiem lost again in his Vienna opener this past week, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 to Jerzy Janowicz. On the bright side, the 22-year-old will be extremely rested heading into Basel. It is Thiem’s time to turn the tables on Haase, but it will not be easy.
Pick: Thiem in 3
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who ya got?
Nadal over rosol with one breaker and I’ll go with haase in 3 I feel like it’s a bit risky but eh I’ll go with it.
Wouldn’t be surprised if thiem got some revenge though. Rooting for thiem anyways so yeah I hope my prediction is wrong.
he will win this time. not sure what his problem has been with Haase.
Haase is a servebot apparently.
agree with Ricky’s picks…Rafa in 2 and Thiem in 3
Yes, I also agree with Ricky’s picks for both matches.
Rosol’s pride took a knock on Friday. I’m wondering what scars are left. Up until then he was playing well so the first set could be tight – even a TB – but I go with the general view
Rafa in 2
Thiem in 3
I don’t follow the logic. Rosol lost to a higher ranked player(Monfils). Why would his pride take a knock? Now when Rafa lost to him in 2012 his pride definitely took a knock.
If you watched the SF with Monfils you would know why I said that.
Exactly. Monfils was toying with Rosol with more nonchalant trick shots than he normally does all the while smiling and joking with the crowd.
I’m guessing that Monfils is not a fan of Rosol because he didn’t show him much respect.
I don’t think anyone in the locker room wants to be his BFF. Andy Murray told him as much during a match not so long ago.
While Monfils being a showman is an understatement, he went out of his way with Rosol so yeah, it definitely would have been a knock to his pride.
This is a good test for Rafa. If he has indeed rounded the corner, then he should win this. Otherwise, rumours of his recovery will remain just that.
Just rumours after all it seems.
This Nadal could never beat Federer indoors. Far from it.
Rosol is a far worse matchup
Re: the the jibe by Filter. Pride is not a word which features in the Nadal lexicon. Au contraire. Whenever a milestone record is being discussed he expresses astonishment and talks about how at the start of his career he never expected to reach such heights. It wasn’t his pride that was hurt by the loss to Rosol: it was disappointment he couldn’t find a way to win in spite of the crippling pain in his knees.
I still don’t see how Gael toyed with him. He did take 3 sets to win. Toying with is 6-1 6-0.
I didnt say Rafa was using his racquet to toy with Rosol (unless you count the moment when he strummed on it while Rosol argued with the umpire, lol). He toyed with Rosol’s head.
I think you meant Monfils. Since he’s a head case that makes sense.
Keep calm, stay focused and fight bravely, Rafa!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CSP-ejuWUAAY-h1.png:medium
Nadal in 3.
Thiem in 2.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CSRB2oWUEAAWNXk.png
🙂
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CSROgfdWwAQJIu9.png
Woohoo!
https://twitter.com/breakpointsaved/status/658741510221918208/photo/1
Vamos Rafa’s!!!
It looks like he toyed with Rosol. Too bad I missed it.