Possible semifinal opponents for Rafael Nadal will be taking the court on Monday, when a pair of intriguing matchups can be found in the second quarter of the draw. Juan Martin Del Potro is facing John Isner, while Marin Cilic is going up against Fabio Fognini.
(9) John Isner vs. (5) Juan Martin Del Potro
Del Potro and Isner will be squaring off for the 11th time in their careers and for the first time at a Grand Slam when they clash in round four of the French Open on Monday. Although Del Potro leads the head-to-head series 6-4, Isner is 4-2 in their last six meetings and has won two in a row at the Argentine’s expense dating back to last fall. The 6’10” American prevailed 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4 in the Paris quarterfinals to knock Del Potro out of a spot in the Nitto ATP Finals and he won 6-1, 7-6(2) in the Miami semis on his way to the title.
Neither man had any serious trouble setting up their first-ever clay-court encounter. Del Potro has erased concerns regarding a groin injury sustained in Rome with routine defeats of Nicolas Mahut, Julien Benneteau, and Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The sixth-ranked Argentine is an awesome 26-6 for his 2018 campaign with titles in Acapulco and Indian Wells. Isner has been an all-or-nothing kind of player the past few seasons, with too many early exits but also three titles dating back to last summer to go along with his semifinal run at the Paris Masters. The world No. 10 followed up his Miami triumph with a quarterfinal showing in Madrid, but he had done nothing else in 2018–until now. Recapturing his fine form on a surface that actually suits his game nicely, Isner has beaten Noah Rubin, Horacio Zeballos, and Pierre-Hugues Herbert while dropping only one set. This has also become a favorable matchup for the ninth seed, whose favorite shots (kick serve out wide to the ad court and inside-out forehand) consistently target Del Potro’s backhand.
Pick: Isner in 4
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(3) Marin Cilic vs. (18) Fabio Fognini
Cilic has finished runner-up at two of the last three majors. The fourth-ranked Croat is unlikely to reach another slam final in Rafael Nadal’s section of the draw, but the bottom line is that he quite often rises to the occasion on tennis’ biggest stages. Cilic is doing so once again this fortnight, with mostly routine victories over James Duckworth, Hubert Hurkacz, and Steve Johnson. The 2014 U.S. Open champion is 21-8 this season with a runner-up performance at the Australian Open and a semifinal result in Rome.
Up next for Cilic on Monday is a third career contest against Fognini, who trails the head-to-head series 2-1. Amazingly, the two veterans have not faced each other since 2011–when Cilic cruised 6-2, 6-2 on the red clay of Umag before getting the job done 6-2, 6-7(1), 6-3 in Beijing. Fognini’s lone win came via a 6-2, 6-0 blowout at the 2009 Monte-Carlo Masters. The 18th-ranked Italian is in the midst of a decent clay-court swing that includes a quarterfinal run in Rome (extended Nadal to three sets), a semifinal finish in Geneva, and wins so far at Roland Garros over Pablo Andujar, Elias Ymer, and Kyle Edmund. Clay gives Fognini a real chance, but even on this surface he may get pushed around the court and have his timing taken away by a big-hitting opponent.
Pick: Cilic in 4
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who ya got?
Delpo in 4 n cilic in 4…delpo isner will be snooze fest
Delpo Isner should be great. Both playing very well. Almost always have good matches.
Delpo’s matches wont be snooze fest. Im hoping to see Cilic/Delpo QF and see who wins on clay. Cilic keeps losing to Delpo so maybe its time he gets a win now.
Delpo lost to Isner at Miami this year, he should know how Isner plays and should be ready for it. I think Delpo will win this one in four or five sets.
Cilic in 4
Del Petro in 4
Cilic in four; Delpo in five.
Fognini in 5
Delpo in 4
Fognini in 4.
Delpo in 4.
Big Dawg in 3; Fog in 3.
Isner in five Cilic in four
Isner looked to be in poor form this clay season but now,I’ll take him in four tight sets.
Cilic in five set classic
Isner is on a roll, but so is del Potro. Tough call, but I’ll say John in 5.
Cilic-Fognini could be a great match, but I have a feeling that Fabio is due for a meltdown. Cilic in 3.
I’m actually looking forward to these two more than the others. I don’t know if Cilic is really that much better than Edmund on clay, to outplay Fognini , who is more likely to lose by meltdown.
Fognini is one of the few players who makes clay court tennis look like an art.
I didn’t enjoy too much the ball bashing Khach-Zverev match.Just was relieved Sasha got through.
Khachanov/Sasha were playing HC tennis on clay, more ball bashing from the baseline than point constructing. They were bashing the ball more than anything else.
Players like Rafa, Foggy would vary their shots with spins and pace to give their opponents different looks, not by hard hitting.
I think it will be a Cilic vs Delpo SF; both of them playing well in their respective R4 matches now.
Come on delpo!
Boo to cilic!!
delpo is way more dangerous for rafa amy.. Rafa does have lot of respect for delpo and he can take racquet out of rafas hands
Yes I am very worried about delpo sanju!
He is playing better than anyone on the other side of the draw and is a big match player and slam winner. The only person on the other side of the draw that applies to is Nole! Looks like he may be playing foggy now!
thats why i want cilic to win this..he will atleast push delpo if not beat him
btw delpo seems to have fully recovered from injury?? no signs at all
I don’t think so regarding injury nsanju!
I hope delpo and cilic play a long match!!
Great tiebreak between cilic and foggy. Foggy is really in the zone now…reckon he may win now.
I went out and came back to see that Cilic and Fog are in a fifth set! What happened?
Foggy has been playing amazing!! Except he’s just got broken!
That game summed up Fog. He makes s brilliant shot to make it 15-30. Then has game point and DF’s. Then gets a net cord which goes out and gets broken.
You never know with Fog.
Cilic wins! I really don’t like him though!
I too dont esp after the way he celebrated in AO QF after rafa got injured..but guess what we need Cilic to soften DElpo
I don’t like him because he consorts with Nazis!
But needs must!
Amy,
Where did you hear that about Nazis? Tactics very disturbing. I don’t like him anyway. Even before that dreadful celebration when Rafa had to retire due to injury at the AO.
I meant to say THAT’S very disturbing,
Cilic won’t let this slip away I feel. Foggy is going to lose this one. Yes, Cilic wins so it’s a Cilic vs Delpo SF that we’ll have.
Cilic is more dangerous than Delpo, as he moves better on this surface; and, he’s capable of playing in the zone tennis more often than Delpo does! However he has more lapses than Delpo.
Isner made Delpo looked good but Foggy is one tricky and crafty clay court player so Cilic plays well to win. I think Delpo would also have a hard time beating this Foggy. Foggy if he’s hard working enough all along, could be the second best clay court player just behind Rafa. He’s just so good on this surface being able to hit any shot from anywhere just like Rafa.
Fog v Delpo would have been a cracker .Cilic can be pretty boring to watch.
Delpo and Cilic plays the same way, so Delpo is also boring? The Foggy vs Cilic third to fifth sets were also crackers the way Foggy played, don’t see Delpo being any better or any more ‘crackers’ than Cilic; it’s more your own biase.
Cilic looks more serious, more stone faced. Delpo does things so slowly, like an old man! I’ve never find them interesting, neither their matches, unless Cilic plays in the zone tennis, like the way he destroyed Fed at USO2014; or Delpo unleashes his easy power FH, the way he did to reach Masters finals at IW and Shanghai.
Both of them can be hard to deal with even for the big four and it’s their matches vs the big four that are more interesting. I for one don’t like seeing one player overpowering his opponent with just raw power or big serves and not much else, that’s really boring!