Dominic Thiem has survived two tough four-setters at the French Open and could have his hands full once again with veteran clay-courter Pablo Cuevas. Third-round action also wraps up with a showdown between Borna Coric and Jan-Lennard Struff.
(4) Dominic Thiem vs. Pablo Cuevas
Thiem will be hoping for more routine work than what transpired during the first two rounds when he takes the court at Roland Garros on Saturday. The fourth-ranked Austrian appeared to be headed for fifth sets against both Tommy Paul (trailed 4-0 in the fourth-set tiebreaker) and Alexander Bublik (saved two set points at 2-5, 15-40) but managed to come back on each occasion and avoid a decider. Thiem is now 11-3 on clay this season and clearly a contender to make a return trip to the French Open final, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in 2018.
Up next for the 25-year-old on Saturday is a sixth career contest against Cuevas, who is a respectable 2-3 in the head-to-head series. However, the Uruguayan’s only non-retirement victory came back in 2015–at Roland Garros, in fact–before Thiem became a staple of the top 10. Speaking of retirements (he got one from Thiem at the 2018 Indian Wells Masters), Cuevas advanced to the third round on Thursday when Kyle Edmund called it quits due to injury. The world No. 47 preceded that result by trouncing wild card Maxime Janvier 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, giving him 18 main-tour match wins in 2019 plus a pair of clay-court Challenger titles. This will not be easy for Thiem, but he is 3-0 against Cuevas on this surface since the 2015 setback and will be eager to pick up the pace on the heels of major scares in rounds one and two.
Pick: Thiem in 3
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Jan-Lennard Struff vs. (13) Borna Coric
Coric and Struff will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the season’s second slam. The head-to-head series is tied up at two wins apiece, with Struff having prevailed twice on hard courts in 2017 before Coric prevailed later that season at the Paris Masters and via a 6-0, 6-2 rout on the red clay of Madrid in 2018.
Although he was already in the prime of his career last season, this a much different Struff taking the court 13 months later. The late-blooming German, now 29, has won 17 matches in 2019–including nine on clay–and is projected to reach a best-ever ranking of at least No. 41 in the world following this event. Struff has defeated Denis Shapovalov and Radu Albot, while Coric did not have much trouble with either Aljaz Bedene or Jan-Lennarrd Struff. Coric has been solid but unspectacular this season and he will probably need some help from Struff in this one to win it, because Struff is hitting much bigger and will be able to dictate play.
Pick: Struff in 4
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Most likely result is Theim winning but I’ll go for the upset given all the signs im seeing and the fact that Cuevas has beaten him before at RG and the balance may have shifted this time in Cuevas’s favour based on the form of the 2 players.
Cuevas in 5
Struff in 5
Thiem in 4; Struff ( red hot this year!) in 3.🇫🇷🎾
Can’t understand how ppl are crying the Rafa has an easy draw when neither Roger nor Novak are yet to play anyone of note!!!!! Choops!!!