Rafael Nadal will continue his French Open campaign on Saturday against Leonardo Mayer. Andy Murray and Philipp Kohlschreiber are also seeking a place in the fourth round.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Leonardo Mayer
Nadal and Mayer will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they meet in round three of the French Open on Saturday. Both of their previous encounters have gone Nadal’s way; 6-1, 6-3 at the 2012 Indian Wells Masters and 6-1, 7-5 last year on the clay courts of Acapulco. They were also scheduled to square off last season in Indian Wells, but Mayer pulled out prior to the match. The Argentine won’t want to bypass this rare opportunity in the last 32 of a Grand Slam. He has reached this point of majors on just four previous occasions (three at Roland Garros).
Mayer is a respectable 12-9 at the ATP level in 2014 following wins this week over James Duckworth and Teymuraz Gabashvili. Nadal has advanced with straight-set blowouts of Robby Ginepri and Dominic Thiem. The top-ranked Spaniard is 61-1 lifetime at this tournament and is bidding for his ninth title. He was far from his very best during the early stages of this clay-court swing, but he at least managed to snag a title in Madrid before finishing runner-up to Novak Djokovic in Rome. Nadal’s form through two rounds and his past performances against Mayer suggest more one-way traffic is in the cards.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 8-10 games
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(28) Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. (7) Andy Murray
Murray and Kohlschreiber will be squaring off for just the second time in their careers on Friday. Their only previous meeting came four years ago on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo, where Kohlschreiber dominated 6-2, 6-1. The 24th-ranked German heated up nicely just in time for Roland Garros, and really did it from out of nowhere. Having previously showed lackluster form in 2014, Kohlschreiber reached the third round in Rome then captured a title last week in Dusseldorf.
The story is a similar one for Murray, whose start to the year was more of a recovery process in the aftermath of 2013 back surgery. Murray is rounding into form now, with a quarterfinal showing in Rome that saw him lose to Nadal 7-5 in the third. The eighth-ranked Scot has defeated Andrey Golubev and Marinko Matosevic so far this fortnight, while Kohlschreiber has rolled over Pere Riba and Denis Istomin. This should be a high-quality battle of contrasting backhands, with Murray’s superior firepower giving him more opportunities than his opponent to exploit weaknesses. More experience getting to the second week of slams also won’t hurt the favorite.
Pick: Murray in 4
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The only thing which makes me a little uneasy is he was not his usual sunny self in either the above video or during the press conference. Rothenberg called it a sullen expression which it most decidedly was not. He made it clear he he did not want probing questions about the state of his back. Most players do not want to broadcast news about an injury (even when it is quite slight) for obvious reasons. Djoker being the exception to the rule. In his case he likes to issue regular bulletins with precise details of his progress or lack thereof.
Well I am uneasy. I try not to worry unnecessarily, but it is concerning to see Rafa not being himself. I have been out all day and haven’t seen the match. I will try to check it out later on.
Rafa isn’t going to give everyone the whole story. But the fact that he would even bring it up at all, says a lot to me. Something is wrong. Hopefully he can deal with it with the extra day of rest between matches. But he’s got some tough ones ahead. I don’t know much about this Lajovic guySometimes the ones who weren’t expected to get through, can cause problems. I don’t know his game. But Rafa could be facing Ferrer in the quarterfinals and it’s always physical with him.
I am worried a lot about Ferrer too. Ferrer is coasting through without dropping a set and he beat Rafa last in MC, Ferrer takes the ball early and he will be all over Rafas serve if he is not serving well.
Djoko is still far away but I think Rafas QF is the sternest test.
I agree that Ferrer will be the toughest test for Rafa. However, I promised myself to take it one match at a time, although sometimes it’s hard to avoid looking ahead. I am honestly not even thinking about the final. I just won’t go that far ahead.
In India French open shows on NeoSports and TataSky the biggest HD subscriber does not have NeoSports due to issues.
Any good streaming links ? Cant believe I cant watch a single French Open match (:-
I got to see Rafa’s match, at least the parts of it that the tennis channel chose to show. I saw most of the first set, then they came back in the second set with the score 4-3, Rafa up a break and serving. That’s when he was broken by Mayer. That was a tight one with Mayer actually getting a set point. But Rafa did well to fight it off and ultimately take that set. I remember one shot where Rafa hit a backhand lob for a winner that had the crowd gasping.
But it’s hard to get a sense of his game when they skip so much of the match. Then they came back in the third set with Rafa up 5-2, serving for the match. So I can’t really say where his game is at right now. I do know that near the end of the second set they posted the average serve speeds for both guys. Rafa’s average first serve speed was 103 mph and his second serve average speed was 82 mph. That first serve average speed is too low. The tennis channel had an interview with Rafa and he mentioned something about his back that made him slow down his serves. All I can say is that won’t get it done against the better players. I hope the day of rest will help him and then he can be ready for his next match.
RT @bgtennisnation: “@SharkoTennis like Muzzard because he is serving 1st big advantage at this stage of match”
I agree.
If he is clutching at his leg..its better he loses..how competitive will he be going forth?
^^This is precisely why he will be the favourite, @Sanju. He is the one who will benefit most from the overnight delay, allows him to get treatment, re-group and start again fresh. Look at how he started yesterday, completely out-playing Kohls. That is how he will start today.
For Muzza, it’s all about gaining points to improve his ranking to avoid difficult early rounds in future tournaments. So, he will fight for the win for that, even if he does not win the tournament. Having said that, I hope he is not jeopardizing his Wimby prospects.
He is definitely seeded in Top 4 in Wimby irrespective of how he fares in RG given that Wimby places its seeds differently..Djoko/Rafa/Murray/Fed are the top 4 seeds in Wimby
Actually if they had continued yesterday, he might well have lost..He was 3 0 in 4th and could not close it out.
As ritb says, Andy is fighting to improve his ranking. If he does progress to the last 16 we still do not know if he will face Verdasco or Gasquet. If he has recovered from
as I was saying…………..if he has recovered from the leg problem I would fancy his chances to land in the QFs. Further than that may be a bridge too far with Monfils looming.
His Wimby result will be critical. I want to see him take his rightful place in the Big Four again.
If Verdasco is dismantling Gasquet in straight sets, he can beat Murray too. Rem how he took Murray to 5 last Wimby QF. He has the game to beat Murraya nd can run him ragged on court
Verdasco is far too flaky. He can be awesome when he digs his heels in but how often does he do that?
Sanju@June 1, 2014 at 6:05 am
—Any good streaming links ? Cant believe I cant watch a single French Open match—
If you are not afraid of computer viruses, you can always watch everything here:
http://www.livescorehunter.com/
Probably you have to overcome many obstacles before you see a stream. Your every click wherever might open an advertisement/announcement.
When you watch a streaming video in full-screen format, the ads don’t appear.
I watch LiveStreamHunter when I don’t have any other options.
(I don’t know if LiveStreamHunter is available in your country)
Thanks ed
livescorehunter and livestreamhunter are separate sites? Hope livestreamhunter is free of ads and popups?
Verdasco hasn’t been in consistently good form for a while now. He may have had one really good match in him at Wimbledon last year, but he’s really not done anything to indicate that he could be a threat. He’s up and down and all over the place and his ranking has tumbled. If he meets Murray, I think this time Murray will beat him. I also think that Murray will come back out on the court and get the win. He has a real opportunity at RG to gain points and move back up in the rankings. He won’t want to stay outside the top four if he can help it.
What about lshunter.net? Is that good and safe?
sanju,
I am sorry, I made a mistake! I meant: LiveScoreHunter.
I don’t know anything about other free streaming sites.
Verdasco literally dismantled Richard Gasquet ..Todays matches are getting over real quick compared to yesterday .
that was NID
This is not a surprise. Gasquet wasn’t even sure that he could play with his back issue. But because it was RB, he wanted to be there. But at some point it was going to catch up to him. Verdasco may have his best days behind him, but he can still play on the clay and make the match physical and demanding. I don’t think this result is an indication that he will beat Murray. It’s true that Murray has been struggling, but he’s winning and is still in it. That’s what is important. The tough wins can give him some confidence and get him into his best form.
I saw a rare post from Ricky and rushed to see what he had to say, but it was nothing more than NID. I should know better.
It’s evens between Khols/Murray, I think.
Well Done, Andy. That was sojme roller coaster match.
Andys next 2 matches are def not going to be straight setters. Verdasco can go to 4 and so can any match with Lopez/Monfils
FeVer had Murray on the ropes last year at W. He led 2 sets to 0 before Andy won.
Gulbis 2 sets to 1 up. @Sanju, seriously, do you see Fed fighting for a 5th setter here? What’s the upside for him, another bruising encounter with Berdych who btw, is very comfortable playing Fed of all the Big 4? I don’t see it, Fed is already on his way to Wimby………
He already is fighting and taking it to a 5th 🙂
The crowd were very subdued, I didn’t notice any bias towards Federer at all.