Cincinnati R3 previews and predictions: Djokovic vs. Monfils, Tsitsipas vs. Hurkacz

Novak Djokovic continues his Cincinnati bid on Thursday against popular French veteran Gael Monfils, while the big-hitting Hubert Hurkacz battles Stefanos Tsitsipas. Spots in the quarterfinals are at stake.

(2) Novak Djokovic vs. Gael Monfils

If ever there was a lopsided prolific lack-of-a-rivalry, it’s the one between Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils. The two men have been playing tennis matches against each other since 2005. They have played on outdoor hard courts, indoor hard courts, clay courts, and grass courts. They have played on Monfils’ home turf in France and Djokovic’s home turf in Serbia. One thing has remained constant: inevitable victory for Djokovic, with an 18-0 differential in the Serb’s favor.

There can be little doubt that there is a matchup issue here for Monfils. His style of play–entertaining and flashy as it is–holds up poorly against Djokovic’s rock-solid baseline game. That Djokovic comes into this match off a long hard-court tournament hiatus will likely make no difference. That Monfils will almost certainly have the lion’s share of the crowd support will also make no difference in the outcome. This is Djokovic’s matchup to command, and a 211th-ranked Monfils coming back from injury isn’t likely to see that change any time soon.

Cheryl pick: Djokovic in 2

Ricky pick: Djokovic in 2

(4) Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Hubert Hurkacz

While not the dominant head-to-head that Djokovic has over Monfils, Stefanos Tsitsipas still holds a commanding lead over Thursday opponent Hubert Hurkacz. They have met on nine occasions; Hurkacz has managed to snag just two wins.

Tsitsipas just won his first title of the year a couple weeks ago in Los Cabos. He had a solid clay season, making the business end of most tournaments, but he came up just short each time. His hard-court results haven’t been quite as impressive. He was knocked out of Toronto in his first match by Monfils. The Greek earned his spot in the Cincinnati third round with a tough win over American Ben Shelton in two tiebreak sets.

Hurkacz has worked hard to get to the third round, posting successive three-set wins over Thanasi Kokkinakis and Borna Coric. He has a big-serving game which lends itself to shorter points, but there is still the possibility that fatigue could start to become a factor as the tournament progresses.

Cheryl pick: Tstistipas in 2

Ricky pick: Hurkacz in 3