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
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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
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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