The up-for-grabs bottom half of the French Open draw will be back in action on Monday, headlined by Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. Medvedev meets Marin Cilic, while Rublev is set for a big-hitting showdown with Jannik Sinner.
(7) Andrey Rublev vs. (11) Jannik Sinner
Considering what’s at stake, Rublev vs. Sinner is arguably the marquee matchup of the entire French Open fourth round. Both players are in search of their first true Grand Slam breakthrough of their careers, and this particular draw could not afford a better opportunity. Although Monday’s matchup is a rough one on paper for each man, whoever wins will have a real chance of reaching a major final for the first time.
For Rublev, a slam semifinal (he is 0-4 lifetime in quarterfinals) or a Masters 1000 title is the next piece to his career puzzle. The world No. 7 looks poised to accomplish at least one of those feats in 2022, as even though he may not be in absolute peak form he boasts a 28-7 record this season. So far in Paris he has ousted Soonwoo Kwon, Federico Delbonis, and Cristian Garin all in four sets. Sinner has improved to an awesome 27-6 this year with victories over Bjorn Fratangelo, Roberto Carballes Baena, and Mackenzie McDonald–dropping just one set to Carballes Baena in the process. Unfortunately for Sinner, his 2022 campaign would be even better if not for numerous physical problems. He picked up another one against McDonald in the form of an apparent left-knee injury. It doesn’t seem terrible, but if the Italian is anything less than 100 percent against Rublev it won’t be enough.
Pick: Rublev in 4
(20) Marin Cilic vs. (2) Daniil Medvedev
Both Medvedev and Cilic are in resurgent form–Medvedev following a month’s absence because of a hernia and Cilic following a multi-year slump. The result is a somewhat surprising fourth-round encounter at Roland Garros on Monday. Their only previous Grand Slam meeting went the five-set distance, with Medvedev surviving 6-7(3), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 at Wimbledon last summer. The 26-year-old is sweeping the overall head-to-head series 3-0, having also prevailed 6-4, 7-6(7) at the 2019 Washington, D.C. event and 7-6(7), 6-2 during Davis Cup competition last fall.
Aside from a first-set hiccup for Cilic against Marton Fucsovics in round two, both guys have been absolutely destroying opponents in Paris. The 33-year-old Croat opened with a 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 beatdown of Attila Balazs and ended Gilles Simon’s French Open career on Saturday (6-0, 6-3, 6-2). Medvedev did not drop more than four games in any set during week one while disposing of Facundo Bagnis, Laslo Djere, and Miomir Kecmanovic. The world No. 2’s 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 whitewash of an in-form Kecmanovic was especially impressive. Given Medvedev’s level and his history of success against Cilic, this should be a mostly straightforward result for the favorite.
Pick: Medvedev in 4
So Med is out in straights!
Sacre bleu!
There is an element of farce about this side of the draw..
Sacre blue indeed!
The bottom half of the draw is wide open now. The two top seeds are out. It really is a farce, but there is nothing funny about this idiotic lopsided draw.
Rune is good and he’s up and coming. I’m not surprised he beat Tsitsipas, given how defensive Tsitsipas’s game is these days. Anyone who could pin Tsitsipas to his BH corner could have an edge over him.
Rune is 19 yo and he’s showing lots of promises; I feel he’s another one like Alcaraz – aggressive, quick, fearless, powerful, and plays with varieties and flare. I do hope he is one to challenge Alcaraz in the future, when those in the 20s age group are not able to do so now, and most likely will not be able to do so in future.
It’s too early to say so, but I think and hope that Rune could rise to challenge Alcaraz in future and form a new rivalry; if not, things will get boring again if one player is going to win all the prizes.
Sinner is so injury prone, what a pity. He can play well in one match and suffers injury in the next match, so unfortunate. If he’s fit and healthy, he and FAA may have the game and the guts to challenge the rising Alcaraz.
I don’t pin my hope on Zverev, Tsitsipas and Rublev to challenge Alcaraz, Meddy maybe still could challenge Alcaraz on the HCs. I like Meddy for his guts and defiant nature; he’s matured enough not to give up easily and he would chase after every ball, but clay is not his surface and he comes here after playing only one warm up match which he lost. I’m surprised he is able to make it to R4 without dropping a set.
I like to see how Alcaraz performs against Zverev in a slam BO5 format, is Zverev able to beat Alcaraz over four or five sets or is he still hopeless against Alcaraz. Rune vs Rudd, I think that will be interesting too because clay is Rudd’s favourite surface so let’s see whether Rune could cause another upset.
Wow, Cilic was channeling USO 2014 or something. I never thought he could have played like that again. That was a serious beat-down of the world #2. Even if it’s Medvedev’s worst surface, he has been playing pretty well lately. And I didn’t think he played badly; Cilic was just from another planet today.
Meddy didn’t play pretty well lately, lost early at both IW and Miami, went for a minor operation, missed most of the clay season, played only one warm up match on clay and lost. I don’t call that playing pretty well lately!