Dominic Thiem will try to extend his undefeated record against Gael Monfils when they meet again on Monday at Roland Garros. Juan Martin Del Potro and Karen Khachanov are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.
(4) Dominic Thiem vs. (14) Gael Monfils
Thiem and Monfils will be going head-to-head for the fifth time in their careers when they clash in round four of the French Open on Monday. All four of their previous encounters have gone the way of Thiem, who is 2-0 at Monfils’ expense on clay. They most recently faced each other last year on the clay courts of Buenos Aires, where Thiem dominated 6-2, 6-1. A 2019 Indian Wells encounter never came to fruition because Monfils’ withdrew citing an Achilles’ problem.
Interestingly, that was the third time that Thiem and Monfils have seen a scheduled matchup get derailed by an injury. This one, however, should not be walkover; it should be every bit as good as advertised. Thiem was the 2018 Roland Garros runner-up and he is the reigning Barcelona champion. So far this fortnight he has defeated Tommy Paul, Alexander Bublik, and Pablo Cuevas all in four sets. Monfils has recovered from his latest physical struggles to the tune of straight-set victories over Taro Daniel, Adrian Mannarino, and Antoine Hoang. No opponent has managed to take more than four games in any set. Monfils obviously has the talent to pull off an upset, but the physical and mental edge in a best-of-five situation on this surface goes to Thiem.
Pick: Thiem in 5
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(10) Karen Khachanov vs. (8) Juan Martin Del Potro
The record is also a perfect one in the Del Potro vs. Khachanov matchup–a 3-0 edge for the Argentine, to be exact. He got the best of Khachanov three times in 2018; 7-6(4), 6-3 in Auckland, 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-7(0), 6-4 at the Australian Open, and 6-4, 7-6(4) in Beijing. That is somewhat surprising given the Russian was on fire for much of last year, to the extent that he was an alternate at the Nitto ATP Finals. Building on such success has proven to be a tough task for Khachanov, who is just 13-12 this season with a hard-to-believe eight losses in his opening match of a tournament.
Del Potro has been dealing with knee problems of late, but after playing only one event through the first four months of 2019 he finally appears to be benefiting from a clean bill of health. The ninth-ranked Argentine started to show signs of progress in Rome, where he destroyed David Goffin and Casper Ruud before holding two match points against Novak Djokovic in a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 loss. Del Potro needed five sets to get past Yoshihito Nishioka in round three, but he impressively bounced back to crush Jordan Thompson 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 on Saturday. As the record suggests, this is not a good matchup for Khachanov; he wields the same style as Del Potro but does not do anything in particular better than his more experienced opponent.
Pick: Del Potro in 3
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Would Thiem prefer to face Khachanov in the QF or Delpo? It looks like it’s Khachanov that Thiem has to play in the QF.
If Khachanov makes the QF, by my calculation, he should then be in the top ten after the FO. I think Foggy too and they’ll replace both Delpo and Isner in the top ten.