The Grandstand’s Ricky Dimon and Joey Hanf of The Tennis Nerds preview and pick four of the best men’s singles matches on Monday at Roland Garros. Among those in action are Marin Cilic and Nikolay Davydenko.
(25) Marin Cilic vs. Pablo Andujar
Ricky: Andujar is a dreadful 6-10 at the ATP level this season and he has plunged to No. 78 in the world. In fact, the Spaniard has won only a single match since his epic 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(10) loss to Rafael Nadal in the Rio de Janeiro semifinals back in February. The good news for Andujar is that Cilic has cooled off just a bit since a torrid start to the season and the Croat is far from his best on clay. He bowed out in routine fashion from all three of his clay-court warmup tournaments. Andujar 6-4, 6-7(3), 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Joey: Cilic did a lot of good work the first few months of the season to get seeded for Roland Garros, but he wasn’t blessed with the easiest of opening matches. Andujar has dipped in the rankings but still possesses the ball-striking ability to play with almost anybody, especially on clay. Aside from having match point against Nadal, Andujar also pushed Andy Murray the distance in Acapulco. However, Cilic’s serve will be the difference in a long, rainy match. Cilic 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5.
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Ricky: Unforced errors and choking at critical moments should be the story of this matchup. On the bright side, it will provide some decent shot-making at times and it should be competitive. Haase leads the head-to-head series 2-1, including 1-0 on clay (7-5, 4-6, 6-4 at the 2011 Monte-Carlo event). The Dutchman is not a specialist on any surface, but both of his ATP titles have come on clay and three of his four finals have come on the slow stuff. Haase 6-1, 5-7, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
Joey: These two have both had less that stellar years–especially Davydenko, who in on the verge of falling out of the Top 100. Haase had one solid result on the clay, reaching the semifinals of Bucharest before falling to Lukas Rosol. Davydenko, on the other hand, has had only one win during the clay season and that came last week against Dudi Sela. It wasn’t all that long ago when the Russian was playing Roger Federer in the semifinals of the French Open. Or maybe it was a long time ago. Haase 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-1.
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(3) Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
Lukas Rosol vs. Jiri Vesely
Ricky: These two Czechs have never squared off at the ATP level, but they have met once on the Challenger circuit; and it did not disappoint. Vesely prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(4) last year on the clay courts of Prostejov. With both men in relatively solid form, another competitive affair can be expected. Vesely is coming off a semifinal in Dusseldorf, where he double-breadsticked Jurgen Melzer before falling to Ivo Karlovic in two tiebreakers. Rosol’s game is so wildly hit or miss that Vesely should be better able to sustain a higher level over five sets. Vesely 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
Joey: Vesely reached his first career tour level semifinal last week in Dusseldorf, which included the impressive double-breadstick beatdown of Melzer in the quarters. The young Czech has done the vast majority of his work at the Challenger level and is still searching for his first Grand Slam win. Meanwhile, the unpredictable Rosol has had an up-and-down year and is dangerous on every surface. I have a feeling that there might be some tough mental battles in this all-Czech first-round match. It should be one of the best matches for those wandering the outside courts. Rosol 7-6(7), 2-6, 6-4, 5-7, 10-8.
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It’s good to get more than one point of view with these daily match picks. More food for thought! I can see Andujar beating Cilic on the clay in four or five sets. I also think that Haase will beat Davy in four sets.
Stan better not take GGL for granted! If Stan comes out firing then it could be three sets, but I say he will get it done in four sets. I honestly didn’t realize that Stan made the name change official. Most of us here have been calling him that for months. 😉
I don’t know if I have even seen Vesely play. I am not familiar with his game. I know that Rosol can be all over the place. This one’s a toss up for me.
thanks for the feedback! I always enjoy joining Ricky to analyze and pick matches.
Joey,
Thanks to you for helping out with the picks. I love reading Ricky’s picks and respect his knowledge of the game very much. But I really do appreciate hearing from others who sometimes join him in giving their predictions.
I hope to see more of your picks here! 🙂
rafaisthebest posted this article on May 20, 2014 at 2:19 pm (on Non-Big 4 page):
http://www.tennisearth.com/news/tennisNews/Wawrinka-changes-his-name-from-Stanislas-to-Stan-362585.htm
@augusta,
Thanks for the info.
Pablo hasn’t been playing that well, so gotta go with Cilic…probably in 4.
Davy is aging and has been struggling. Haase should win. His serve shouldn’t be as big an advantage on clay, though, or against Davy who’s a great returner.
I don’t know Vesely’s game at all, but I don’t care if it’s some high schooler they’ve picked off the streets of Paris to play against Rosol. I won’t pick Rosol…just cuz. So, I’m for Vesely.
GGL could cause Stan some problems if he’s playing at his best and Stan under performs. Still gotta think that there won’t be an upset, though. GGL won’t go down without a good fight. This could go 5.
@ jpacnw,
I guess we are the only two still here, since we are both on the west coast in the states. I do think it’s a possibility that Cilic can beat Andujar. I kind of think that one could go either way. Cilic hasn’t been playing that great and clay is not his best surface, but he is capable of sometimes pulling a surprise.
You won’t pick Rosol because of ….? Because he had that fluke victory over Rafa, the only thing of note he has done in this sport? He’s done nothing since then. But I don’t know anything about Vesely. So I just decided to call it a toss up. I really don’t care about the outcome of that match.
I would think that Stan might not take his first opponent for granted, after getting bounced out early at Madrid and Rome. He needs to come out playing well. These early round matches can be dangerous because the lower ranked guys come out with nothing to lose and zero pressure. They can just go for it, although being it’s best three out of five set matches can mean it’s hard for them to sustain any decent level of play.
I would love to see more guest pickers in the daily picks. I like to get a few different points of view regarding upcoming matches.
^^NNY7: Re Rosol: My not picking Rosol ever is my one of my few concessions to illogical behavior. I’m normally so logic/math/left-brain dominated that I’m surprised my head doesn’t tilt. It wasn’t that he beat Rafa. Many players have defeated Rafa. It was his behavior afterwards. (Contrast that with other surprise victors such as Florian Mayer and Steve Darcis who were completely professional and class acts. They were proud of their accomplishment and joyful, and rightly so, but still showed respect for Rafa). Anyway, Rosol got relegated to my permanent “never pick” list.
@jpacnw,
I totally get where you are coming from with Rosol. I also agree with you about his disrespect for Rafa. That will put anyone in my bad books for sure! For myself, I think that I have kind of forgotten he existed. I just don’t acknowledge him at all if possible. It’s like I wiped him out of my mind!
It’s interesting that you speak about being so logic/math/left brain dominated. I am just the opposite. I am emotional, passionate/right brain dominated. But I do have a logical side. It’s just that it can get overpowered by the creative and emotional side. That’s the part of my brain that I have to look to when dealing with Rafa’s losses. The analytical, rational, logical side helps me to get through it. But it’s not my dominant side for sure!
^^^^^Totally with you on that one JPA. There is a world of difference between exuberant celebration of an important win and gloating at inflicting a defeat.
Rafa is the role model for how to behave whether he is the victor or the loser. But even he was provoked to uncharacteristic behaviour during that match. viz. his complaint to the umpire about Rosol’s distracting movements while he(Rafa) was serving and the ‘bumping’ incident at the change of ends.
Another player who goes in for an excessive amount of movement while waiting to receive serve is Santiago Giraldo. It must be opponents nuts.
The arch practitioner of the tactic has to be Marion Bartolli. She was something else.
^^^^^^……… it must drive opponents nuts
Andujar;
Haase;
Wawa;
Rosol. *with my nose held up*
This just happened to Montanes:
RT @bgtennisnation: “Rough luck for veteran Montanes as he really rolled over his ankle and had to pull ripcord vs big Frenchman De Schepper”
Please be careful out there, Rafa! Hard to slide with these conditions so players need to be careful…………..
On ESPN, they showed Montanes turning his ankle…looked very painful. He was sliding and his foot just got stuck in the clay.
On another note, Cilic is steamrolling Andujar. 6-0 and now 2-0 in the second.
^^Aww, nasty……….because of the dampness in the air, the clay retains a lot of moisture and will be “clampy” rather than loose. Dangerous………….
Klizan bags the 1st set against Nishikori…………..
^^and leads 4-0 in the second. Not looking good for Nishi.
Klizan feeds Nishi a breadstick (yes, that’s the right bakery product, phew…)
Not watching live, just checking the scores. What’s up with Nishi, or is Klizan another contender now?
Klizan served at 33 percent during the set in which he breadsticked
so I think we know the answer
Nishi is obviously physically hampered. Not moving well and trying to end points early and thus making a lot of UE’s. Klizan also hitting the ball well. It’s still raining…playing conditions just getting worse.
I half-figured Nishi is not yet fit. Poor guy, after breaking into the Top 10 for the first time obviously felt the pressure to protect to ranking. Came back too soon………………
He has problems with both ankles. One is taped, the other is heavily strapped.
he has a lot more issues than that!
Are you going to let on………………..?
Ankles, back, leg, bird flu, SARS…
This is why I was hesitant to pick Nishi to go deep here. It’s never easy at a slam when you are just returning from injury. The early rounds are dangerous with lower ranked players willing to go out there to get the upset if a player isn’t at his best.
Oh boy……….Klizan now a break up in the 3rd…….upset looming.
What the heck’s going on out there, TRob down a set to……………Ward??:
RT @scambers73: “Great effort by @JamesWardtennis to win the first set against Tommy Robredo..”
Can’t get enough of Rafa, can they, the journos?
https://twitter.com/jon_wertheim/status/470929869866401792/photo/1
Ricky, Ricky, Ricky.
Even I picked Cilic over Andujar and you know how I feel about the James Blake of Clay.
#CongratulationsToMeeeee
#Humb1e
Well I kind of backed off my initial prediction of Andujar over Cilic. I thought that jpacnw might be right.
GGL takes the first set off of Stan(islas).
https://twitter.com/Tennis/status/470978623282114560
#GoGoGGL
GGL up a break in the 3rd. 2-1 and serving.
Double break for GGL…leads the 3rd set 5/2 and he’ll be serving for the set.
GGL takes the 3rd set 6/2!!
RT @ReemAbulleil : “Davydenko says his match against Haase today “may be” the last match of his career http://sport360.com/article/international/21588/davydenko-might-call-it-quits-after-french-open-defeat “