Dominic Thiem and Casper Ruud will clash in the premier match of the French Open third round on Friday. Italian upstart Jannik Sinner will take on Federico Coria with a spot in the second week at stake.
(3) Dominic Thiem vs. (28) Casper Ruud
The draw gods are not smiling on Dominic Thiem in this edition of Roland Garros. The current U.S. Open champion and two-time French Open finalist runs into one of the hottest clay-court players on tour in Casper Ruud–and it’s only the third round.
Thiem came into Paris with no clay-court prep. He took a break after his run to the title at the U.S. Open, and since there were only two weeks between New York and Paris this year due to COVID-19, that meant no clay warmup for the Austrian.
Ruud, on the other hand, has taken full advantage of the abbreviated European clay-court swing. The Norseman has two semifinal appearances in two tournaments; he lost to eventual champions Novak Djokovic in Rome and Andrey Rublev in Hamburg. The world No. 25 in on fire right now.
This match has danger written all over it for Thiem. Ruud is playing some impressive tennis on the dirt. One good bit of news is that the underdog had a bizarre match in the second-round against American Tommy Paul, which he eventually won in five lopsided sets but also wasn’t anywhere him at his best. This has all the makings of a classic marathon of a match. Thiem, who has played so well in Paris for the past four years, has to have the edge just based on experience and big match play in majors…but it won’t be easy.
Cheryl pick: Thiem in 5
Ricky pick: Ruud in 5
Jannik Sinner vs. Federico Coria
It’s doubtful any prognosticators would have put Jannik Sinner and Federico Coria in this third-round match…but here they are. It’s the promising popular Italian wunderkind and the late bloomer who has been playing professional tennis since 2009 and only just now made it inside the top 100 (Coria is 99th in the world).
The Argentine has actually been playing good clay-court tennis this year. He successfully qualified in Rome a couple weeks ago and he took out world No. 30 Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round. This week he beat Jason Jung in the first round and then notched another win over a much higher-ranked player in Benoit Paire.
There is little doubt that Sinner will have the edge in this match. The 19-year-old dispatched No. 11 seed David Goffin easily in the first round and his form seems to improve on a daily basis. He’s eventually going to run into an opponent who will take advantage of his relative lack of experience, but that’s not going to happen on Friday.
Cheryl pick: Sinner in 3
Ricky pick: Sinner in 3
WWW?
Thiem in 4, Sinner in 3
Thiem in 3 with one tiebreaker, Sinner in 3
Thiem pretty much crushed him, just too much firepower. He’s moving through the draw nicely.
Still has some tough match-ups to come, including a possible with Wawrinka who has a battle on his hands right now.
So, no Wawrinka, then. The way the draw has unfolded is bizarre.
Stan really does unfailingly disappoint against players he should beat!
And has done the opposite a few times in Slams.
I suspected this was a danger match based on Gaston’s results coming into the match. At 1 set all it looked like Wawrinka knew he was in a real contest. Gaston certainly didn’t give an inch to Wawrinka and interested to see how far he can go.
The 4th round matches are shaping up to be really competitive.
I suspected this was a danger match based on Gaston’s results coming into the match. At 1 set all it looked like Wawrinka knew he was in a real contest. Gaston certainly didn’t give an inch to Stan and interested to see how far he can go.
The 4th round matches are shaping up to be really competitive.
Too much respect for Ruud.
Not enough respect for Gaston, Davidovich Fokina, Carballes Baena.