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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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.