Novak Djokovic has displayed some encouraging signs through two rounds of the French Open and he will be back on the court for a Friday showdown against Roberto Bautista Agut. Lucas Pouille and Karen Khachanov are also in action.
Karen Khachanov vs. (2) Alexander Zverev
Zverev has been playing with fire at the French Open as he tries to erase the demons of past Grand Slam failures. The No. 2 seed was one set away from bowing out in the second round and he was one point away losing in the third round, but he ended up beating Dusan Lajovic 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 before surviving Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-5. Zverev, who is 20-3 on clay this season and 20-1 against opponents other than Rafael Nadal, preceded those victories with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 beatdown of Ricardas Berankis.
Up next for the 21-year-old German on Sunday is a second career meeting with Khachanov, who lost their only previous encounter 7-6(3), 6-4 on the indoor hard courts of St. Petersburg in 2016. The 22-year-old Russian has also made plenty of strides since then, owning two ATP titles (including earlier this season in Marseille) and a ranking of No. 38 in the world that left him just one spot out of seed at Roland Garros. Khachanov booked his spot in the fourth round for a second consecutive year by defeating Andreas Haider-Maurer, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and Lucas Pouille, surrendering just one set to Garcia-Lopez (in a tiebreaker) along the way. However, the underdog has never beaten anyone in the top eight in his entire career and Zverev should start playing looser now that he has persevered through two early-round scares.
Pick: Zverev in 4
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(8) David Goffin vs. Marco Cecchinato
As expected, the Goffin vs. Gael Monfils third-round showdown did not disappoint. Goffin fought off four match points in the fourth set before eventually prevailing 6-7(6), 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in a three-hour and 58-minute battle that spanned both Friday and Saturday. That was the world No. 9’s second five-setter of this tournament, as he recovered from two sets down to beat Robin Haase in his opener prior to much more straightforward 7-5, 6-0, 6-1 rout of French wild card Corentin Moutet.
Goffin’s reward for his survival thus far is an especially good one, and not just because he is into the second week at Roland Garros for the third time in his career. Standing in his way of a second quarterfinal berth is the unheralded Cecchinato, who had never previously won a single match at a major. It is all coming together for the 72nd-ranked Italian this fortnight, thanks to a favorable draw that includes victories over Marius Copil (10-8 in the fifth set), lucky loser Marco Trungelliti, and Pablo Carreno Busta. Cecchinato may be encouraged by a recent 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 loss to Goffin in their first-ever meeting a few weeks ago in Rome, but it is the Belgian who basically has home-court advantage this time around. Far more experience at this stage of big tournaments should also help Goffin soar into the quarterfinals with relative ease.
Pick: Goffin in 3
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If Zverev hasnt learned his lessson by now… Reckon he’ll close this one out this time and wont give Khachanov a sniff.
Zverev in 3.
No reason why his run cant continue. He’s obviously a lot better player than his ranking suggests. Has been smashing eveyone at challenger level and won his first ATP event just recently. Lots of upside here.
Cecchinato in 5.
Khachanov in 5
Cecchinato in 5
Khachanov in four Goffin in four
I got zverev losing due to fatigue. It’s his fault he dragged his last 2 matches to the 5th set. I’m putting money on this too since Serena won me a lot the past three matches.
Kk is a solid play for the $. Sascha is wore out and is lucky to have advanced. Smart play
Hells yea. Plus money bBy
Seems like gamblers like reading tennis blogs lol
Zverev has been underperforming due to fatique. If Khachanov plays well tomorrow, I expect him to win in 3 or 4 sets.
Goffin should be too solid for Cecchinato. A set might be stolen, so all in all I have to agree with Benny G and say Khachanov and Goffin both in 4 sets.
Agree with both Benny and Investing.
Sasha Zverev not impressive with his game, it’s just his fighting spirit and his opponent’s lack of belief that he’s able to reach R4.
Khachanov has the belief and the fitness, he’s another hard hitter and so if he can make the match to go the distance, he may have the advantage over Sasha.
Khachanov has an unconventional taje-back on the forehand, hence why he’s never beaten the top 3 or 4 players.
“take-back”
Unless that shot has improved remarkably since the last time I had hopes for him and was greatly disappointed, Zverev should alway be in control of the match.
Khachanov knows Zverev is tired and wont let go. I dont think Zverev will win this match.
Zev wins 2nd set TB. Let’s see if he can take the match in 4 sets. Have the feeling if he goes to 5 sets he could lose the match.
Khachanov gets 1st break in 3rd set. Zev is visibly exhausted.
Zverev’s forehand is seriously dodgy!!
I do like Khachanov!!
Looks very much as if Zverev’s pergotmance at the Slams is still jinxed.
He’s certainly stopped with the finger pointing!!
Mercifully!!
ed, you just got me checking the meaning of ‘pergotmance’ 😉 😉 ;). Knowing you are a woman of letters I thought this was a new word I had to learn. 😉 😉 😉
Ha Ha. Do you think I should copyright it ?
Sure. I should have known it was a typo straightaway but I’m watching Sasha/Karen on the TV, Kei/Dom on my Ipad and trying to comment on a couple of forums at the same time.
To crown it all, I’m listening to Mats blabbing endlessly about Soderling beating Rafa at RG.
Sasha playing like this is not going to last; they’re killing each other physically for the benefit of their next opponent, their next opponent most likely is Thiem.
Thiem is killing Kei in the second set, so much promises for these two matches but so far so disappointing. The Sasha match is only good for two sets, both players feeling it physically.
+1
Holy Smoke he’s broken back. Clearly determined to go to 5 sets and defy the odds.
How long can he last playing like this? Thiem will kill him in the next match.
So many players are now standing way behind the baseline to receive serve. Rafa has set the trend. Check out where Sasha stands.
Disappointed in Zverev. Success has gone to his head and he’s becoming more and more of a spoilt brat 🙁
Agreed!!! I don’t like him at all!
At his age rafa had 4 slams but he didn’t go around finger wagging and swearing !
I agree about Zverev. I have liked him and thought he had great potential as I watched h get better in the last year or two. But he is becoming a brat and displaying boorish behavior. Not a fan of that at all.