Milos Raonic and Jack Sock will continue their campaigns as two of the top three seeds in Delray Beach on Wednesday. They are set for respective second-round affairs with Borna Coric and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
(1) Milos Raonic vs. Borna Coric
Raonic and Coric will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers when they battle for a quarterfinal spot at the Delray Beach Open on Wednesday. This marks Raonic’s first event since the Australian Open, as he skipped opening-round Davis Cup duty for Canada because of a minor hip issue. The world No. 4’s season is off to a solid but unspectacular start, with a semifinal loss to Grigor Dimitrov in Brisbane and a quarterfinal setback at the hands of Rafael Nadal Down Under. Raonic kicked things off as the No. 1 seed this week by taking care of Tim Smyczek 6-1, 6-4 on Tuesday.
Coric’s 2016 fall swing was plagued by an injury of his own (knee), and he has not yet gotten back on track. In fact, since upsetting Nadal at the Cincinnati Masters he has picked up only two match victories. To go along with four losses this year, the 59th-ranked Croat beat Karen Khachanov 7-6(6), 7-6(10) in Rotterdam and Santiago Giraldo 6-2, 6-3 in the Delray Beach first round. Coric may be finally rounding into some form, but Raonic will likely have way too much firepower for him in this one.
Pick: Raonic in 2
[polldaddy poll=9670821]
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. (3) Jack Sock
Sock generally flies out of the gates to a new season in fine fashion and the 2017 campaign is no exception. He is an outstanding 8-1 in the early stages of this year with a title in Auckland, a third-round performance at the Australian Open, and a Davis Cup singles win for the United States over Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli. Sock maintained momentum with a 6-4, 7-6(2) defeat of Radu Albot on Tuesday.
Up next for the world No. 21 on Wednesday is a third career showdown against Garcia-Lopez (second at the ATP level). The head-to-head series is tied up at one win apiece after they split a pair of 2013 encounters; Garcia-Lopez prevailed 6-4, 6-2 on the clay courts of the Bordeaux Challenger and Sock cruised 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 in round one of the French Open. Garcia-Lopez is struggling down at 99th in the rankings, saddled with a dreadful 1-5 record this season. The 33-year-old Spaniard had been winless before taking advantage of a less-than-100 percent Dustin Brown via a 6-3, 6-3 decision on Tuesday. Nothing suggests Garcia-Lopez will find much success when the competition level ratchets up dramatically in the form of Sock.
Pick: Sock in 2
[polldaddy poll=9670819]
WWW?
Raonic and Sock in 2 sets.
Raonic & Sock in 2
voted.
But not willing to admit my picks 😀
Raonic and sock in two
Raonic up shit creek. Cmon u frankenstein looking bohemoth