Andy Murray will be facing a second consecutive huge server when he goes up against John Isner during fourth-round action at Roland Garros on Sunday. Kei Nishikori and Richard Gasquet are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.
(15) John Isner vs. (2) Andy Murray
Murray and Isner will be going head-to-head for the sixth time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the French Open quarterfinals on Sunday. All five of their previous encounters have gone Murray’s way, but only two have ended in straight sets and all five–not too surprisingly–have featured at least one tiebreaker. Their last four meetings, in particular, have been especially competitive. Isner took a set in three of the four and the other resulted in a tough 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-6(4) Davis Cup scoreline in 2015 when Murray benefited from home-court advantage in Great Britain. They most recently faced each other last fall in Shanghai, where Isner snagged the opening set before succumbing 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4.
Combined, these two men have survived three five-setters on their journeys to the French Open fourth round. Surprisingly, it is Murray who has endured two contests that went the distance. The second-ranked Scot scraped past qualifier Radek Stepanek 3-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 in his opener before overcoming little-known French wild card Mathias Bourgue 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. But in an ideal warmup for facing Isner, Murray righted the ship to defeat Ivo Karlovic 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(3) on Friday. In between a straight-set rout of Kyle Edmund, Isner twice persevered through scary situations. The 6’10” American recovered from a set and a break down to beat John Millman 6-7(4), 7-6(12), 7-6(7), 7-5 in round one and most recently outlasted Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-6(7), 4-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 after trailing 2-0 in the fifth. Although success had not been forecasted by the mediocrity of Isner’s season prior to this event, he is no stranger to making noise at Roland Garros. Isner also reached the last 16 in 2014 and he pushed Nadal to five sets in the 2011 first round. The 15th seed is likely to make this one a test from start to finish, but Murray has always feasted on big servers and Isner is no exception to that rule.
Pick: Murray in 4
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(5) Kei Nishikori vs. (9) Richard Gasquet
Isner will hope to begin turning the tide against Murray just as Nishikori has managed to do at Gasquet’s expense. Prior to this month, Gasquet was enjoying an improbable 6-0 head-to-head series weep over the Japanese star. The Frenchman had prevailed five times on hard courts and once on grass, but clay–and not to mention Nishikori’s rise to the upper echelons of the sport–has yielded a change in fortunes. Nishikori beat Gasquet 6-4, 7-5 at the recent Madrid Masters before getting the job done 6-1, 6-4 in Rome.
On the bright side for Gasquet, he has been sparkling in front of the French crowd so far this fortnight. Of the eight remaining players in the bottom half of the draw, only Gasquet and Milos Raonic have refused to surrender even a single set. The world No. 12 punched his ticket to the last 16 by rolling over Thomaz Bellucci, Bjorn Fratangelo, and Nick Kyrgios. Nishikori also had things in cruise control during defeats of Simone Bolelli and Andrey Kuznetsov, and for a while he seemed to be making similar work of Fernando Verdasco on Friday. Although the Spaniard fought back valiantly, Nishikori survived for a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 victory. The No. 5 seed is now 32-9 for the season, which is highlighted by a fourth straight title in Memphis, a runner-up finish in Barcelona, and semifinal showings in Madrid and Rome. An in-form Gasquet should be able to make this more competitive than their two most recent showdowns, but Nishikori is arguably looking like the second best player in this tournament right now.
Pick: Nishikori in 4
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Hawks may often sound cynical but deep down he has is a soft centre. I admired hugely the way Nole handled what was possibly the toughest defeat of his career and found the moment he nearly lost it when the crowd gave him the prolonged standing ovation particularly moving.
Proof too the RG crowd can be sporting..
Yes, I guess I do ed (as I think most of us do). Guilty as charged. 🙂
Similarly, I think while Nole shows too much questionable behaviour on court at times, his real persona was exposed during the ovation. It was a great moment. I had cheered for Wawrinka the underdog but at the same time was sorry Nole failed at the last most cruel moment when he thought it was his.
I suspect if he does make it this year it will seem a somewhat hollow victory. Bet he would prefer to have done it the hard way battling past his long term adversaries – no disrespect to Muzza intended.
Maybe to others ed, but I don’t think it will feel that way for him (and not for me either TBH).
His endurance allowed him to wait it out similar to Fed’s win in ’09 and I don’t think Fed or anyone but many Rafans believe his win was hollow.
You are right. My comment was not worded well. I still think it would be more satisfying for him personally if he won it by beating the top guys. But you’re right pointing out it’s the hardware and his name on the trophy that he will be remembered for.
DEFINITELY would be more satisfying but only IF he would have beaten Rafa which was far from certainty (no matter what some would have you believe).
To imitate hawkeye’s logic, Djokovic shouldn’t win because he doesn’t deserve it. He has already too many slams won in an incredibly weak era with “old” and battered players.
And, yeah, as an avid tennis fan and Rafan, I’m very sad about how Rafa went out of RG after, out of nowhere really, showing close to his old form on a much more consistent basis leading up to the French. It was a joy to watch.
I let my own guard down and had real renewed and sudden hope for la decima this year. It’s a similar sadness to when Sampras went downhill and routinely went out in early rounds for two years before his last hurrah in 2002 USO.
I hope Rafa has at least one more big win in him. Hopefully more.
wow amy has showed her true nasty self in attacking me viciously! Don’t worry dear, everybody knows you are a Djokovic fan so I did not give away any secrets. No need to get hysterical!
Troll on RITB.
#PDFTT
But for the love of entertainment at least, can’t you be a bit more witty or creative with them?
Your attempts are boorish and quite tiresome.
Just trying to help the rest of us that have to read them.
You weren’t missed at all ICYMI and should just crawl back under the closest rock in Mauritis.
As Murray said to Rosol, no one likes you.
Hawks. I’m certain Mary W is not who you think she is. It’s not RITB’s writing voice, plus there was a grammatical error the other day which she would be almost incapable of making. As you well know, It’s difficult to emulate someone else’s style unless you are already a fairly skilled writer.
Apart from anything else I can’t imagine RITB being faffed to waste her time trolling.
Perhaps.
Regardless, I should just drop it at this point.
It’s funny ed you know? I’d rather be trolled than see someone here who I respect trolled.
I can much more easily ignore being trolled myself than when it happen to someone else I respect.
You do an incredible job at dealing with trolling (better than anyone here IMO.
If everyone reacted (or didn’t react) like you, there would be a lot less trolling to begin with. You don’t feed it. Response or no response, you disarm it. Very disciplined.
#RainDelayMusings
Hawkeye,
I aporeciate your sentiments. But I will say that it’s easier said than done when it comes to ignoring trolling comments. I think we do a good job for the most part. But sometimes it’s just too much. We are human, after all!
I think if trolling connects personally attacking other posters were deleted immediately, then the message would be clear – stick to talking tennis!
well grammatical error can easily be made to believe exactly what you believe ed, lol…. not too bothered about this but hawkeye is right… I don’t want to comment on why I agree with Hawkeye…not worth the effort and all three of us would agree on that.
as NNY said below, let’s stick to tennis as much as we can 🙂
🙂
Amy doesn’t have a nasty bone in her body! The fact that she likes both Rafa and Novak is no reason to go after her!
I am sick of reading hatespeak in lieu of any real discussion about tennis!
I know that Amy has defended be against nasty personal attacks just like the ones that are being said here. She tells it like it is and if someone is behaving like a troll, then she will call them out for it!
Novak’s behavior after his loss was expected. He has always been gracious in defeat. He is intolerable when he wins, tearing his shirt, bellowing loudly to the skies, dancing on cars, publishing disgusting skits with Troicki making fun of Rafa….
hawkeye, I am not dependent on your likes and dislikes. I know Ricky’s moderation is guided by amy and her gang though he does attempt to be fair. But I came back for a while because of the shock of Rafa’s withdrawal. Certain reactions were very telling. Like amy asking vr an “innocent” question. Under guise of seeking his opinion on Wawa’s recent improvement against Rafa to counter what vr was saying about Rafa imposing his game on Wawa!
Goodbye till the next shock, hopefully a Rafa win!
I just this question posted..had missed it. Lol, you can give second meaning to just about anything and that’s what you are doing here. She asks for my opinion on different things and that is common.
Don’t instigate, esp at this time when Rafa fans are hurt.
vr,
It’s not even worth responding to something like that. You don’t have to explain yourself. It’s just another attempt to instigate and inflame.
I do agree that this is especially unfortunate after rafa’s withdrawal due to injury.
Rafa fans are hurting right now and this is a time for us to be united in our support for Rafa and hoping for his speedy recovery.
The idea that Ricky moderates this site on the whims of Amy or anyone also, is pretty insulting to him.
Bizarre conspiracy theories in lieu of any real tennis discussion!
Ricky, if you’re listening, what’s up with your man Ben R on twitter?
Why is it only media that ever suggests mens tennis goes to BO3 in slams? Never players and never fans.
What’s up with that? BO5 over seven rounds is what makes slams different from ATP and allows for history to be made and upsets less likely.
2011 Fedal FO final MIGHT never have happened as Isner was up 2-1 (and the boorish FO crowd may not have booed the scoreboard LOL).
Enough already. No one but the media wants it.
Don’t you? Or do you.
It should always be B05 in slams!! who’s saying B03?!
It’s typical media looking for clickbait. I see it all the time.
The latest from Ricky’s pal http://www.twitter.com/BenRothenberg who was responsible for the epic “Don’t you? Or do you.” response from Berdych.
Ben is. It’s a terrible idea.
It’s really bad.
But seems to be a chronically common theme with media only not shared by players, fans or tournaments.
I don’t know why other than clickbait.
Ricky, go have a beer with him and straighten him out. Don’t you? Or do you.
Hawkeye,
Where did you get this? Why would anyone want to change it to best of three matches? That is insane!
if it were bo3 both stan and murray would be gone already. that would be a fun half of the draw with nishi and kygrios gone as well…
djoko would be the only big name left in the tourney and forget would officially be having a nervous breakdown..
actually the atp would start to look a lot like the wta…
Ha, Ha.You can always tell when there is no tennis.
All around the mulberry bush
The monkey chased the weasel;
The monkey thought ’twas all in good fun,
Pop! goes the weasel.