Dominic Thiem and Gael Monfils are on a collision course for the Buenos Aires semifinals, which would offer a chance to make amends for a Doha semifinal that never happened (Thiem withdrew due to illness). They first have to get past Argentines Guido Pella and Leonardo Mayer, respectively, on Friday.
(1) Dominic Thiem vs. Guido Pella
From ranking-points perspective, Thiem is them midst of what should be his second-most productive part of the season–behind only the April and May clay-court swing. A borderline clay-court specialist in recent years, the fifth-ranked Austrian captured the Argentina Open title in 2016 and he triumphed last year in Rio de Janeiro. Thiem recently compiled a solid 6-1 record at two hard-court events, but he withdrew prior to the Doha semifinals due to illness and suffered a bad loss to Tennys Sandgren in round four of the Australian Open. Back on his favorite surface, the No. 1 seed opened on Wednesday in Buenos Aires with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Horacio Zeballos.
Up next for Thiem during quarterfinal action on Friday is Pella, another Argentine left-hander. The head-to-head series stands at 2-1 in favor of Pella, who won their only previous clay-court encounter 6-1, 6-4 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro event. He also got the job done 7-6(6), 6-4 last fall in Chengdu before Thiem cruised 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of this year’s Aussie Open. The world No. 59 is a respectable 4-2 this season with a semifinal showing in Doha (lost to Andrey Rublev in a third-set tiebreaker) and a 6-2, 6-4 rout of Fernando Verdasco on Wednesday in Buenos Aires. Even though Pella is also solid on clay, he would rather face Thiem on any other surface.
Pick: Thiem in 2
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Leonardo Mayer vs. Gael Monfils
Monfils and Mayer will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers and for the first time in more than seven years when they finally meet again in Buenos Aires on Friday. Both of their previous contests have gone the way of Monfils, who prevailed via a final-set retirement at the 2009 Acapulco event (when it was on clay) and in straight sets at Wimbledon in 2010. The world No. 43 is still a force when healthy at 31 years old, but rarely is he 100 percent. Although Monfils looked questionable at best last week in Quito, with some clay-court action under his belt he has picked up the pace to roll over Pablo Cuevas and Dusan Lajovic in Buenos Aires.
Whereas Monfils has already lifted one trophy in 2018 (Doha), Mayer has won back-to-back matches for the first time this season. The 50th-ranked Argentine punched his quarterfinal ticket thanks to 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4 victory over Rogerio Dutra Silva and a 6-3, 6-3 upset of fourth-seeded Fabio Fognini. Although Mayer is big hitter with a fair amount of talent, this match is entirely in Monfils’ hands. That is not always a good thing for the Frenchman, but at the moment he seems to motivated for a strong week in Buenos Aires.
Pick: Monfils in 3
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WYG?
Thiem in three Monfils in two