French Open contender Dominic Thiem is taking his preparation right up to the last minute, as he prepares to battle Gilles Simon for the Lyon title on Saturday. In Geneva, meanwhile, the final will feature Peter Gojowyczk and Marton Fucsovics.
Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon: (1) Dominic Thiem vs. Gilles Simon
Thiem and Simon will be squaring off for the ninth time in their careers when they clash in the Lyon final on Saturday. Simon once led the head-to-head series 2-1, but Thiem has reeled off five wins in a row to seize a 6-2 advantage. It has, however, been competitive from start to finish. Only half of their eight previous encounters ended in straight sets and each of those four straght-setters featured a tiebreaker. They most recently faced each other last summer at Wimbledon, where Thiem got the job done 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
While the eighth-ranked Austrian has overworked himself more than a few times before slams, this week may be just what the doctor ordered for him heading into the French Open. Aside from a Madrid upset of Rafael Nadal and an ensuing runner-up finish, Thiem has not been as productive on clay as usual–with early losses in Barcelona and Rome. So far in Lyon he has defeated Roberto Carballes Baena, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and Dusan Lajovic. Simon booked a spot in his second ATP final of the season with victories over Jordi Samper-Montana, Joris De Loore, Mikhail Kukuhskin (in a third-set tiebreaker), and Cameron Norrie. Thiem’s surface advantage in this one may be too tough to overcome for the Pune champion, who was just 4-4 on clay in 2018 prior to this week.
Pick: Thiem in 2
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Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open: Marton Fucsovics vs. Peter Gojowyczk
It will be a expectedly unexpected 250-point final the week before a Grand Slam when Fucsovics and Gojowyczk clash for the second time in their careers on Saturday in Geneva. Their only previous meeting came three years ago in U.S. Open qualifying, with Gojowyczk dominating 6-2, 6-0. Fucsovics, though, is finally making real name for himself at 26 years old. The Hungarian has earned exactly one-third (11 of 33) of his career ATP-level wins this season and is up to 60th in the rankings. A fourth-round performer at the Australian Open, Fucsovics is through to his first main-tour title match following defeats of Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Frances Tiafoe, Stan Wawrinka, and Steve Johnson.
At 28 years old, Gojowyczk is also enjoying the best season of his career. The 49th-ranked German kicked it off with consecutive quarterfinal performances in Doha and Auckland, finished runner-up to Tiafoe in Delray Beach, reached the Rome third round, and is now into his third career final thanks to Geneva victories over Ivo Karlovic, David Ferrer, Andreas Seppi, and Fabio Fognini. Thanks to familiarity with these situations, and a title last fall in Metz, Gojowyzk should have a slight edge in this one.
Pick: Gojowyczk in 3
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WWW?
Fucsovics and Thiem in three
Gojo(the german one) and Thiem in three
Thiem in 2; G’ski in 3.
who?
Gilles to win because thiem won’t wanna over exhert himself before French open but Gilles will.
Thiem wants his little 1st place main trophy after losing the real one to Zverev.
i do agree. Simon makes his living on this clay tourney. His home.
It’s very confusing when picking these 250 pre-GS brackets.
Fucsovics and Gojo are a coin flip. I’ll go with Big Al and Ricky. Gojo in 3.
Simon or Thiem? Thiem has been playing like he’s fence sitting and half wants to lose — at least vs GGL and Lajovic. Simon is going to leave it all out there to win Lyon. Allez Simon in 3.
If Thiem doesn’t win this he should be ashamed of himself. Gillou is my favourite Frenchie of all tiime but I don’t have high hopes for his chances.
Thiem looks very flat in the opening few games. Quite a few careless UEs.
Would be no surprise if it takes him three sets to get the win.
Thiem in 3
Thiem playing like this, I wonder how long can he last at the FO. I won’t be surprised if he loses to Tsitsipas in R2 if he plays like this!
Before this clay season starts, I’ve high hopes of him reaching the FO final and loses to Rafa there. As things unfold so far, it seems Sasha has better chances of reaching the FO final, not Thiem. I wonder what happens to him; maybe he losing the Madrid final to Sasha, after playing so well to beat Rafa and Anderson , really dampened his fighting spirit and dented his confidence and ego.
I think he needs another coach, to help take his game to another level. He’s not progressing and at an age when he’s hitting his prime and ought to hit his peak soon, he’s not making good progress. His game on clay has regressed, and he hasn’t make any improvement to his game on grass and HCs, it’s getting worrying.
I feel he has to rethink his schedule, he’s playing too many events, should cut down some and spends more time to work on his game. He has to learn to move more inside the court, improves his court positions and his volleys. He stays way back and hit hard his shots but that’s about all that he does. At least Sasha, a big hitter, stays closer to the baseline and has a better serve.
I like Thiem, just hope that he makes the necessary improvements to his game and becomes an all court and all surfaces player, not a one dimensional clay court player.
My thinking too Lucky. He’s regressing by the day.
I read somewhere that his dad drives him very hard. However I believe he has taken on a new coach for 2018 – Galo Blanco – although that’s all I know. Might be a case of ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’
Gilles Simon wins the first set. Thiem will have to up his level if he wants to defend his title.
Thiem isn’t the defending champion, he didn’t play at Lyon last year.
My bad
This match started off promisingly but has deteriorated into a slugfest and Simon is being overpowered by Thiem.
Everyone should know, this is what its like when a French defends his Home. surrender surrender haha
Remember Fucsovics used to be a Gulbis Facebook meme? 😂