One day after taking out top-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, Tommy Robredo will be back in action at the Grand Prix Hassan II for a quarterfinal date with Benoit Paire. Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Borna Coric are also on the schedule.
(PR) Tommy Robredo vs. (6) Benoit Paire
Paire and Robredo will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers when they battle for a semifinal spot at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Friday. The head-to-head series stands at 3-1 in favor of Paire, who has won two of their three previous clay-court encounters. Robredo’s lone victory came at this same tournament four years ago when it was held in Casablanca, where the Spaniard got the job done 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-0. Paire has since prevailed in the 2015 Bastad final (7-6(7), 6-3), at the 2015 Hamburg event (2-6, 6-3, 7-5), and a few months later at the U.S. Open (7-6(3), 6-1, 6-1).
Due mostly to inactivity, Robredo is struggling down at No. 385 in the world. The 34-year-old, however, is a respectable 4-4 this season and 3-2 on clay following victories this week over qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky and No. 1 seed Grigor Dimitrov. Paire’s clay-court campaign is also off to a strong start. The 39th-ranked Frenchman finished runner-up at a Challenger tournament in France last week and he is through to the Marrakech quarterfinals with defeats of Carlos Berlocq and Radu Albot. Paire’s backhand is obviously the biggest weapon on the court in this one and Robredo has not won three matches in a single event (Challengers included) since July of 2015.
Pick: Paire in 3
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Borna Coric vs. (2) Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Coric was all over the place in 2016. For example, he upset Rafael Nadal en route to the Cincinnati quarterfinals but won a grand total of two matches at the other seven tournaments of his last eight to end the season. More of the same has continued for the 20-year-old Croat in 2017. He lost to Henri Laaksonen in Indian Wells and then beat Dominic Thiem in Miami. Coric has already been up and down this week, too, with an opening-round rout of Diego Schwartzman before he required a third-set tiebreaker to hold off unheralded Moroccan wild card Reda El Amrani.
Up next for the world No. 79 on Thursday is a second career contest against Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who won their only previous meeting 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 at last year’s Australian Open. Following a bye as the second seed in Marrakech, Ramos-Vinolas overcame qualifier Laslo Djere 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4 on Wednesday. The 24th-ranked Spaniard already owns 14 ATP-level victories this year with clay-court semifinal performances in Quito and Rio de Janeiro plus a runner-up finish in Sao Paulo. On this surface, Ramos-Vinolas’ fine form should continue at the expense of an inconsistent opponent.
Pick: Ramos-Vinolas in 3
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