A pair of showdowns that should feature plenty of extended baseline rallies are part of the Monday schedule at the Madrid Masters. Gael Monfils is facing Gilles Simon and Pablo Cuevas is going up against Thomaz Bellucci.
(15) Gael Monfils vs. Gilles Simon
It will be an all-French affair when Monfils and Simon meet for the ninth time in their careers during first-round action at the Mutua Madrid Open on Friday. The head-to-head series stands at 6-2 in favor of Simon, who won their only previous clay-court contest 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 at the 2011 Hamburg tournament. Perhaps their most infamous encounter came at the 2013 Australian Open, where Simon won a 71-ball rally on his way to a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-2 victory.
Neither player can be overly enthused about how things have gone in 2017. Monfils made a debut appearance in the World Tour Finals last year, but he is just 8-5 this season and coming back from an Achilles’ injury. The world No. 16 had not played since Indian Wells until he took the court last week in Munich, where he dropped his opener as the top seed in straight sets to Hyeon Chung. Simon is a disappointing 7-9 in 2017 and coming off a dreadful 6-4, 6-1 first-round loss to Bjorn Fratangelo in Budapest. On the bright side for Simon, he has been healthier than his compatriot and has more clay-court matches under his belt. The world No. 30 will likely be too consistent for a rusty Monfils.
Pick: Simon in 3
[polldaddy poll=9741352]
(Q) Thomaz Bellucci vs. Pablo Cuevas
Cuevas and Bellucci will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers on Monday. The head-to-head series is all tied up at 3-3 (Bellucci leads 3-2 at the ATP level), but Cuevas has won all three of their previous clay-court meetings. All three of Bellucci’s victories have come on hard courts, including most recently via a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 decision at last summer’s Rio Olympics.
Outside of the top 10 players in the world or so, Cuevas is thought to be one of the most serious contenders to do damage at the French Open. In reality, however, the 26th-ranked Uruguayan has done little to deserve such a status. He is just 6-7 lifetime at Roland Garros and has done next to nothing this season aside from a title on the red clay of Sao Paulo and a quarterfinal run in Monte-Carlo. At his other three clay-court events he lost his opening match. Bellucci is 11-10 in 2017 with a recent runner-up performance on the clay courts of Houston. The 57th-ranked Brazilian advanced one round this past week in Munich but promptly suffered a bad three-set loss to Yannick Hanfmann. Based on their past history against each other on clay, Cuevas should one again have an edge.
Pick: Cuevas in 2
[polldaddy poll=9741354]
WWW?
Monfils in 3 and Cuevas in 3
Simon and Cuevas in 3
Cuevas,Simon in three
Monfils in 3 and Cuevas in 3.
Monfils not even close to being back to his form from last year
What a crazy score from these 2!They’re very generous today by giving 60 60 to each other!!Hahaha…
I just tuned in to the tennis to see the wacky score in the Simon/Monfils match! Crazy!
I picked Simon in my bracket because I did not think Monfils would be in good enough form yet.
And you’re very wise Nny!!Hehe…I picked Monfils,urgh!!
MA,
Only on this one! My wisdom doesn’t extend to all the matches!
?♥️
Nny!…You’re usually doing good in Bracket..not too bad!But sometimes our luck play a big part too…
MA,
I think luck plays a big part. Sometimes there are upsets that one just cannot foresee.
I just blew it with Sock. I went back and forth about picking him to go deeper. I thought he had a shot to go well, but he lost right off the bat to Mahut!
Nny!Exactly!!hehe…i’m like u too!..i want to pick Mahut but i read on TX that Jack Sock is one of the so called ‘hot players’,so i chose him!Urgh!…
Same with WTA Nny…i can’t believe the numbers of big upsets yesterday…Muguruza,Pavlyuchenkova,Karolina[earlier]Svitolina,Vesnina..and i think there’ll more to come…Btw,u didn’t join the WTA Bracket this time Nny …
Lol!…Monfils squandered a big lead in 3rd sets!I guess he don’t want to meet with Nole later…oh well!
Like both the Frenchies but Simon is my favourite pin-up. I’ always root for him as long as he’s not playing Rafa or Andy.
“Big”????
Okay..maybe 3 0 lead at one point in the decider not big enough…
Unbelievable. You couldn’t make up that scoreline if you tried
0-6 6-0 TB 7-0
I don’t think we will see that score duplicated again soon! Wacky!
I like both of these guys, so for me whoever wins is fine with me.