Gael Monfils will try to keep his Cincinnati run going when he faces Andrey Rublev during third-round action on Wednesday. Matteo Berrettini and Felix Auger-Aliassime are also aiming for a spot in the quarterfinals.
(4) Andrey Rublev vs. Gael Monfils
Monfils has needed some momentum in the worst way for more than a year now; he is finally getting it on the North American hard-court swing. The 34-year-old Frenchman made a run to the Toronto quarterfinals last week and he is one win away from doing the same at the Western & Southern Open. Monfils has advanced with straight-set victories over Dusan Lajovic and Alex de Minaur.
Up next for the world No. 22 on Thursday is a second career contest against Rublev. They previously squared off three years ago in the Doha final, with Monfils triumphing 6-2, 6-3. Of course, Rublev is an entirely different player now. A staple of the top 10 dating back to last season, Rublev led the tour with five titles in 2020 and he is 38-13 this season. The seventh-ranked Russian hasn’t been entirely on fire this summer, but a gold medal in mixed doubles was surely a source of inspiration and he did well to overcome Marin Cilic 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 on Wednesday. Monfils still hasn’t defeated anyone in the top 15 since February of last year, so you have to think Rublev will be too good.
Pick: Rublev in 2
(5) Matteo Berrettini vs. (12) Felix Auger-Aliassime
Berrettini and Auger-Aliassime will be facing each other for the third time in their careers and for the second time this summer. Both of their previous encounters have gone Berrettini’s way; 6-4, 7-6(11) in the 2019 Stuttgart final and 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in the recent Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Auger-Aliassime posted a stellar three-set victory over Karen Khachanov on Wednesday, but the 17th-ranked Canadian is still just 3-4 in his last seven matches dating back to the setback against Berrettini. As for the eighth-ranked Italian, he took a well-deserved break after Wimbledon and his first appearance of the hard-court summer resulted in a 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Tuesday. Berrettini is still a little bit short on matches, but his game is more reliable than that of his good friend in pressure situations so the head-to-head score should be 3-0 after this one.
Pick: Berrettini in 3
WWW?