Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev may miss Wimbledon this summer, so they are eager to make deep runs at the French Open. Next up for them are Miomir Kecmanovic and Cristian Garin, respectively, in the third round on Saturday.
(28) Miomir Kecmanovic vs. (2) Daniil Medvdev
Clay may be Medvedev’s worst surface and he did not have much preparation at all for the French Open, but so far none of that has mattered. The world No. 2 is through to round three following straight-set victories over Facundo Bagnis and Laslo Djere–two clay-court specialists. It has been an impressive week for Medvedev especially considering that he missed most of the dirt swing because of a hernia and lost his only warmup match to Richard Gasquet in Lyon.
Of course, only so much confidence can be inspired from wins over opponents like Bagnis and Djere. Kecmanovic is a whole different beast, as the 31st-ranked Serb is playing by far the best tennis of his career right now. He has reached six quarterfinals or better already in 2022 (including Indian Wells and Miami) and his fine form has continued with Roland Garros victories over Tomas Martin Etcheverry (in straight sets) and Alexander Bublik (in four). Beating Kecmanovic would cement Medvedev’s status a real contender to reach the final–a task that may be too tall. Kecmanovic is in superior form and looks poised to make his breakthrough at the Grand Slam level.
Pick: Kecmanovic in 5
(7) Andrey Rublev vs. Cristian Garin
Rublev and Garin will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers on Saturday. They faced each other twice during the summer of 2019, with Rublev prevailing on each occasion; 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 at Wimbledon and 6-4, 7-6(5) on the red clay of Hamburg.
Garin’s clay-court stomping grounds were not enough for him to overcome Rublev three years ago. Will the surface make the difference this time around? Maybe not. Rublev’s spring has been underwhelming, but Garin’s season had been a disaster prior to his arrival in Paris. The 37th-ranked Chilean was 10-12 before defeating Tommy Paul and Ilya Ivashka earlier this week. It should also be noted that Garin has reached the last 16 at Roland Garros just once, when he needed five sets to get past Mackenzie McDonald in the second round and eventually lost 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 to Medvedev. This is another good opportunity for Rublev, who is coming off solid four-set wins over Soonwoo Kwon and Federico Delbonis.
Pick: Rublev in 4
WWW?
If it goes to five, I’ll say Meddy to win. I have doubts about Kecmanovic going five sets toe to toe with Meddy, because Meddy is a very fit guy. Kecmanovic has to win in three or four sets. I think it’s 50/50 for both.
Not very impressed with Kecmanovic so far. If the match continues like this Med will win pretty easily.
Some very tedious cross court backhand exchanges repeated endlessly.
This side of the draw is pretty dire. Tsitsipas has been playing poorly. Rublev is unconvincing. Sinner not very convincing. Rudd made heavy weather of Tsonga. &tc. &tc.
Yes, this side of the draw is a great big yawn!!!! While the other side is full of hotspots!! If I didn’t know better I’d say this seems to be a conspiracy to stop Rafa from reaching #14 and #22!! 🙄🙄
Someone plz tell me, where is the lie there?
It would not surprise if Meddy makes the final here!! He seems to be more convincing than all the others on that side!
Wouldn’t surprise me either! But that speaks to the poverty of the play of the main seeds here rather than how well Med is playing. Their level of play has been pretty shocking.
Maybe Rudd can come through. I do like him.
Looks like Meddy is doing very well here. Of all the young generation top guys, Meddy seems to be the best among them even on clay?(Alcaraz not in this list, he belongs to the next next gen).
If Meddy continues like this, he may reach the final.
Meddy is really having plenty of fun it there!!! The confidence is oozing from his shots even doing a 360 degree volley 🤣!!
Meanwhile Iga is just demolishing her opponents, y don’t they just give her the trophy already!! I mean she reminds me of how it used to be with Rafa in the beginning!!! I can’t c who can beat her here!!
She had a blip.in the second set and did look beatable then.
This Zheng kid is a real talent. She might give her some problems…
Oh yes, Zheng but I’d like to c Iga win here, lol! She’s a big Rafa fan 😂🤣
Rublev seems to want this very badly!!
Rublev won’t beat Med! Is Sinner injured? Apparently he has problems otherwise I would pick him to beat Rublev.
I like Iga but I think Zheng could give her a scare! It’s hard playing a young player coming out of nowhere as all the pressure is on you. That was a massive factor in Raducanu’s win at the USO.
Rublev will kick himself if he doesn’t win this 4th set!!! Grain is pushing for a fifth!!
Rublev
Rublev is very unreliable in slams.
That was me above!
Wow, on the women”s side there has been a lot of surprise results! Sabalenka goes home bageled by Georgi, Barbosa seems to be imploding while Simon is yet to register a game against Marin !!
Is it really a surprise when all the WTA too seeds bar Swiatek lose?! It happens routinely at slams.
In the past, the WTA had great rivalries but those days are gone!
It’s a huge huge shame that wonderful Ash Barty is gone. Because she could beat Swiatek and would definitely have won more slams!
Otherwise the top WTA players are very disappointing.