Rafael Nadal will begin his quest for French Open title No. 11 when he takes the court against unexpected opponent Simone Bolelli on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Ernests Gulbis qualified for the main draw and will meet Gilles Muller.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. (LL) Simone Bolelli
There are an unbelievable eight lucky losers in the main draw of the French Open; well, seven confirmed so far and an eighth if Marco Trungelliti signs in on time before Monday’s action begins. The unluckiest of them all was one of the first ones in, as Bolelli will have the misfortune of facing none other than Nadal–the 10-time Roland Garros champion and current world No. 1. Bolelli already knows all too well how tough of a task this is. He lost to Nadal at this event, also in the first round, via a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 beatdown in 2012. The Spaniard is sweeping the overall head-to-head series 5-0 and he has won 11 consecutive set since dropping the opener of their first-ever encounter on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam in 2009.
Bolelli won his first two qualifying matches over Tommy Robredo and Yasutaka Uchiyama before getting blown out by Santiago Giraldo 6-0, 6-2. The 129th-ranked Italian, who got in when Alexandr Dolgopolov pulled out, is now looking for his third ATP-level victory of the year following a quarterfinal performance in Estoril as a qualifier. Nadal is 79-2 lifetime at the French Open and also 19-1 on clay this season, so there is no reason to think anyone outside the top players in the world–and maybe not even them–has a chance against the 31-year-old. Nadal’s last nine sets against Bolelli have read 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, and 6-2; something similar should transpire in this one.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 5-7 games
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(Q) Ernests Gulbis vs. (29) Gilles Muller
Among those who did not need lucky-loser spots in the field of 128 were two formerly relevant performers who have since fallen off the tennis map: Bernard Tomic (who is scheduled to face Trungelliti) and Gulbis. The latter, who reached the French Open semifinals in 2014, is struggling down at 160th in the rankings and has not yet won an ATP-level match in 2018. From just about of nowhere, however, Gulbis qualified by beating Stephane Robert, Stefano Travaglia, and Alessandro Giannessi.
Up next for the Latvian on Monday is a second career showdown against Muller, who won their only previous meeting 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, 7-6(5) at the 2011 U.S. Open. The Luxembourgian’s favorite part of every season (grass) is about to begin, but for now he is still stuck on a surface that is the least conducive to his game. Muller has won just a single tournament match since the end of February and he has dropped his last six sets dating back to the Monte-Carlo second round. Even though Gulbis is not what he was during his brief prime, an upset is possible and even probable because of Muller’s slump and especially the surface.
Pick: Gulbis in 4
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