Rafael Nadal will continue his French Open campaign in an all-lefty affair with Guido Pella on Thursday. Kyle Edmund and recent Geneva champion Marton Fucsovics are also aiming for a place in the last 32.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Guido Pella
Nadal has not dropped a set at the French Open since losing to Novak Djokovic in the 2015 quarterfinals, a streak that is still intact through round one of this year’s event. But it almost wasn’t. If not for another third-set rain delay that pushed the conclusion of his showdown against Simone Bolelli from Monday to Tuesday, the 10-time champion may have been extended to four. Instead, he recovered from a 3-0 deficit and forced a tiebreaker–after which he fought off four set points to get the job done 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(9). Nadal is now 80-2 lifetime at Roland Garros, 105-2 in best-of-five matches on clay, and 20-1 on the red stuff in 2018.
Up next for the world No. 1 on Thursday is a second career meeting with Pella, who lost 6-3, 6-2 last spring in Indian Wells. The 78th-ranked Argentine enjoyed a surprisingly routine time earning another shot in this head-to-head matchup, as he trounced Estoril champion Joao Sousa 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 during first-round action. Aside from victories over Sam Querrey in Houston and Geneva (both in third-set tiebreakers), Pella had not beaten anyone ranked better than 50th during this clay-court swing. He has never defeat an opponent in the top five and this is obviously not where his first such upset will come.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 8-10 games
[polldaddy poll=10017627]
Marton Fucsovics vs. (16) Kyle Edmund
Edmund and Fucsovics will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers on Thursday. Their only previous encounter came last summer in Winston-Salem, where Edmund cruised 6-2, 6-1. Both players are more experienced and more confident now; in fact, Edmund is a Grand Slam semifinalist (2018 U.S. Open). The 17th-ranked Brit struggle for a couple of months thereafter, but he has heated back up with a runner-up finish in Marrakech, a quarterfinal performance in Madrid, a third-round result in Rome, and a straight-set beatdown of Alex de Minaur on Tuesday.
Fucsovics has picked up plenty of clay-court momentum, as well, with his first career ATP title this past week in Geneva. The 45th-ranked Hungarian, who reached round four of the Aussie Open before succumbing to eventual champion Roger Federer, maintained his fine form following the Geneva run by disposing of Vasek Pospisil 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(5) during first-round action at Roland Garros. But Edmund isn’t Pospisil; the 16th seed is playing much better tennis right now and is much more competent on clay–likely too competent for Fucsovics.
Pick: Edmund in 3
[polldaddy poll=10017623]
WWW?
Nadal in 4.
Edmund in 4.
Rafa in 3; Edmund in 4.
Ricky, check out the prediction you have just made for Edmund in US Open 2018 :))
Rafa in three , Edmund in four , two of them tight .
Rafa in three. Maybe giving up as many as 5-7 games.
Edmund in four. Fucsovics is stronger than I thought after winning Geneva. I picked him to lose to Pospisil. The Hungarian is hungry and confident enough to give Edmund trouble.
“The Hungarian is hungry”
That’s my RC Ricky!..She knows how to toyed with words & still looks elegant!!hehehehe….
Yeah, it was too obvious to pass. Apologies – MA and Ricky!
😛 and looking for something Ed(mund)ible
Thank you, vmk1. That’s what I was trying to say: hungry for something Edmundible. 😀
Better way to say is…Ed(mund)ible is yummy-n-almondable and will be commendable in his win over a game fuscovics tomorrow. It can be a 5 setter also. “Hungry Hungarian” can gobble as much food as he wants after today’s tight loss to the indomitable, almondable….Ed(mund)ible!lol,lol,lol…Like the over to win easily.
Rafa in three. Pella after his loss will struggle to sPella Rafa and say Ruff, Ruff,Ruff…Rafa…thankyou for this tough lossa!lol Rafa ML in a multi.
BOL to all
Correction –
“Hungry Hungarian” can gobble as much food as he wants after today’s tight loss to the indomitable, almondable and EDIBLE….Ed(mund)ible!lol,lol,lol…Like the over here.
Rafa in three losing 8-10 games and Edmund in four
Very humid in Paris today. Expect some rain delays but with luck they should be fairly brief.
Keep your mind focused, remain confident and be strong, Rafa!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DehWJZrWkAAuMQE.jpg
Shapo is out against an unheralded German! Didn’t see this coming… Have no idea if this good or bad for Rafa. Shapo was a known entity after all.
That Marterer guy was pretty good, I can’t be too hard on Shapo for that loss. Still, probably the more seeds that fall out of your section, the better.
Rafa time!
Saw that match. Nothing Rafa can’t handle unless he has a brain freeze. I must say a lot of the youngsters have been acquitting themselves well whereas the senior (or relatively senior players) have been making heavy weather of their matches.
Maybe the hype about Shapo can die down a bit now.
Dreadful start for Rafa in his first service game.
His first serve landing in the bottom of the net!!!
Rafa now back to deuce. He needs to hold here.
Well done rafa!!!
Something does not feel right about him, it concerns me
He doesn’t like Lenglen!!
amy,
You are right! I forgot that he doesn’t like playing on that court!
Rafa did well to come back from 0-40. But he is not getting his first serves in.
He does not like the center court either based on his statement. Where else will he play
Some lovely shots there nny!!!
Bdtl alert!!!
Let’s wait and see if Rafa settles down before we decide that something is wrong.
Better second service game from Rafa. The tennis channel commies said that Pella dues not have the kind of speed on his ground strokes that Bolelli has. They all seem to want to try to hit Rafa off the court. But it’s easier said than done.
Rafa should play more like his second service game here! He should stamp his authority on his opponents, show them who’s the boss! Don’t let them boss you around!
Rafa getting 50% first serve in so far after two service game. Pella is hitting as hard as possible, as expected,
Pella is holding easily so far.
What’s wrong with the timing on the backhand?!
Rafa has more UE’s than Pella.
8-3
Can Rafa get this break?
These UEs!!!
And low serve speeds!!😕
amy,
Yes it’s frustrating but better to try to work through it now. The tennis channel commies won’t shut up about players now using the Bolelli technique in going after Rafa hitting hard and trying to disrupt his rhythm.
Pella doesn’t have that kind of speed or power.
Brilliant I/O forehand winner from Rafa. I think he’s starting to get going.
low serve speeds? Not good.
I think Rafa may be lowering the speed on his serves to get more in.
Rafa has had three set points and has not done it yet.
#4
Finally! Rafa gets the first set.
6-2
Rafa is playing more aggressively than in his first match hense higher number of UEs. Rafa dictates points and is moving Pella around. Pella hits hard like its the end of the world, won’t last long playing like that. He will be exhausted by the end of this set…Rafa’s hitting deep, trying to paint the lines…love his aggressive tennis!
Vamos Rafa!
Saw that match. Nothing Rafa can’t handle unless he has a brain freeze. I must say a lot of the youngsters have been acquitting themselves well whereas the senior (or relatively senior players) have been making heavy weather of their matches.
Well done rafa!!
Cant believe gow long it took for Rafa to close out the first set 🙁
They need to get a crack on. Rain clouds are moving in. A rain break is the last thing we need.
Oh no! Not rain again!
A glacier could form in the time it takes rafa to serve!!
He is imperious now!☺☺
Barry Millns timed Rafa and said he is within the 25 seconds; that’s before he got the warning. When I was in Madrid, I timed him live and he was taking about 16-17 seconds. I know he’s got far too many things on his list of things to do getting ready to serve and it does get tiresome watching him go through all of them but I’m sure Toni and others have tried to change that but seems it’s not going to happen. Rafa is very stubborn, it seems.
amy,
LOL!
😄
Rafa serving better now, getting in 60% first serve this second set so far. When his first serve is good, it’s so much easier for him to win the point and his service game.
This turning into a rout. Now the tennis channel switched to Isner’s match! Typical! Any excuse to show an American!
It’s good to see Rafa serving better. It really helps open up his game. He seems to be feeling it now.
Pella started off very well and I thought this would be another hard day at work for Rafa although I thought it would be routine before the match.
Rafa clay court exho now!!😀
At least you don’t have to watch aKyle Edmund !!!
Am hoping foggy takes him out next round!!
Sorry was replying to nny!!
This site has become very difficult to use…it gobbles up posts and log in details like a gigantic turkey!!
Amy,
Are you having the same trouble that myself and others are having with signing in every time we post a comment? We have to put in our user name and email address.
It’s nice to see Rafa in control here.
Yes I do nny!!!
And I lose posts!!
A little more respect from you, please, for Britain’s No.1 player 😉
RIP Andy Murray …useless hasbeen!!!☺
These comparisons with Andy are utterly absutd!!
At least we only have Edmund left so they won’t saturate all the channels with Edmund, Konta, Watson and Norrie.
Let’s be thankful for small mercies!!!
2nd set took exactly half the time of the first. Not Rafa’s finest hour but looks like it will be over in straight sets.
But talk about watching paint dry -:(
Bolelli did Rafa a favour by making him battle hardened.
Vamos champ!!!
Rafa looks fab in the blue no?!
This is my favorite outfit of Rafa’s! Love it!
Nat
@amy,
Yes! Loving the blue. Nike has done well by our champ this clay court season.
Rafa serving 56% first serve in but won 85% of those so not that bad. He was serving well during last few games of set two and the whole of set three; it seemed that he’s in a hurry, wanting to finish the match ASAP before the rain came (which so far hadn’t and hasn’t).
When he’s in a hurry to get off the court, he played his best tennis, turned aggressive and hit every shot as hard as possible but with precision! He should play like that more often (which is a joy to watch!) and not let his opponents boss him around.
I’m getting bored with so many posts disappearing into thin air!! Even though I’ve typed in my credentials.
What’s going on?
I have not had trouble with posts disappearing, but having to put in the info every time must be seriously annoying to phone users? I use my computer and just have to remember to click to put the info in before trying to post.
I have had posts disappearing as well, especially the longer ones, which is really annoying. Therefore I don’t do longer ones any more. I also have to type in my moniker and email address every time.
Ricky , please fix these glitches. Your site used to be so much more comfortable and user friendly
That was one boring match. Also, I have to repeat what many others have said. I have had many posts disappear, and it’s annoying always to have to enter my details before every post. I assume these measures are part of the anti-hacking changes, but they are making the site much less user-friendly.
An excellent write-up on what has always been Nadal’s greatest strength: making the opponent hit another ball:
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2018/05/rafael-nadal-guido-pella-2018-french-open-roland-garros/74241/
Joe Smith, this is indeed an excellent article. Tignor is a very talented writer.
As othe match beng boring – well, they can’t be all exciting – especially if an opponent is over matched by much stronger opponent in the early rounds. it will get more exciting.
Can anybody please tell the winners and ue hit by nadal.
37 winners 26 UEs.
this is very encouraging as a nadal fan. Normally nadal does not hit so many winners in a short match like this. So is this a sign that nadal has learnt from bolelli match and has become more agressive or has it something to with the pace of groundstrokes hit by the opponent.
I feel Rafa is capable of playing like in the second and third sets. I think he’s in a hurry as he didn’t want another rain delay (rain forecasted) so he turned aggressive and wanted to finish the match as soon as possible.
His serve also improved though overall his first serve % was still low, ie below 60% at 56% but won 85% of those! I do think he’s capable of upping his game to another level or two as he progresses through the draw.
The match statistics:
https://www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/matches/SM032
Thanks Everybody