Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev headline the lineup at Roland Garros on Tuesday with spots in the semis up for grabs. Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev will battle surprise quarterfinalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
(2) Daniil Medvedev vs. (5) Stefanos Tsitsipas
Despite the fact that Daniil Medvedev is the No. 2 seed, his appearance in the French Open quarterfinals is something of a shock. Until this year, the Russian had never won a single match at Roland Garros. He now finds himself squaring off against Stefanos Tsitsipas for a spot in the semifinals.
Tsitsipas might be the No. 5 seed, but he is one of the tournament favorites (behind Rafael Nadal and arguably Novak Djokovic). He has had an impressive clay-court season, capturing his first Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo. Still, he has a well-documented matchup issue with Medvedev. The Greek trails the head-to-head 6-1, and despite the Russian’s difficulties on the dirt it’s bad luck for Tsitsipas that Medvedev is in his section of the draw.
Cheryl pick: Medvedev in 4
Ricky pick: Tsitsipas in 4
(6) Alexander Zverev vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Alexander Zverev has quietly made his way through the draw to reach the quarterfinals. The German very nearly found himself out of the tournament in the first round along with Dominic Thiem and Andrey Rublev. He was down two sets to none to fellow German Oscar Otte, a player ranked 152nd in the world who earned his spot in the main draw through qualies. Since then, though, it has been smooth sailing for the No. 6 seed.
Opponent Alejandro Davidovich Fokina had one of the biggest wins of his career in the second round over Casper Ruud in what has been the match of the tournament so far. Ranked 46th in the world, Davidovich Fokina hasn’t had any success against Zverev yet. The two men met twice before, in 2020. Zverev did not drop a set in either contest.
While Davidovich Fokina is in better form now than he was last year, Zverev is still the prohibitive favorite in Tuesday’s quarterfinal.
Cheryl pick: Zverev in 4
Ricky pick: Zverev in 3
WWW?
I consider Tsitsi-Medwed more like the Atlanta Knights games of yore in that I’ll be watching more for the extracurricular fireworks than for the actual sport being contested.
Tsitsipas in 4
Zverev in 3
It just depends how well DF recovers. He seems to hold his weight well so could be up for another long match. I think he can win a set.
So is it bad luck to get Medvedev instead of Rafa or Djokovic? I beg to differ. Even Thiem would normally be more dangerous at RG than the Russian. I think that the Greek got an excellent draw.
No crowd must be making it difficult for these guys.
Zverev will be another notch above Medvedev but another good test for Tsitsipas on route to the final