Marseille R2 previews and predictions: Monfils vs. Stakhovsky, Tsonga vs. Marchenko

No. 1 seed Gael Monfils will begin his quest for the Marseille title when he opens against Sergiy Stakhovsky on Thursday. The French crowd will also get to see Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is in line for a second-round battle with Illya Marchenko.

(1) Gael Monfils vs. (Q) Sergiy Stakhovsky

Monfils and Stakhovsky will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they meet again in round two of the Open 13 on Thursday. Their only previous encounter came three years ago at the Indian Wells Masters, where Monfils cruised 6-2, 6-4. The 12th-ranked Frenchman has played in just one tournament in 2017, perhaps siding with the Juan Martin Del Potro school of thinking that a conservative schedule will prevent additional injuries. He reached the third round of last month’s Australian Open before succumbing to eventual runner-up Rafael Nadal.

Stakhovsky has been mostly absent from the main tour in recent times. In fact, the 107th-ranked Ukrainian had not won an ATP-level match since last summer’s U.S. Open prior to his arrival in Marseille. He played his way into the draw with a pair of qualifying victories before rolling over Jiri Vesely 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday. An indoor hard court is somewhat advantageous to Stakhovsky, but it almost certainly won’t be enough for him to seriously compete with an in-form Monfils in France.

Pick: Monfils in 2

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Illya Marchenko vs. (2) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Tsonga’s 2017 campaign recently went from solid to spectacular with a 500-point title in Rotterdam last week. The 11th-ranked Frenchman, who reached quarterfinals in Doha and Melbourne to go along with a semifinal showing in Sofia, rolled to the Rotterdam trophy with the loss of only one set–the first in Sunday’s final against David Goffin, which Tsonga ended up winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. He is now 13-3 on the season.

Up first for Marseille’s No. 2 seed on Thursday is a second career meeting with Marchenko. Their only previous collision came at this same tournament seven years ago, when Tsonga took a quarterfinal affair 6-4, 6-4. Marchenko earned another shot at his favored opponent by beating Andrey Rublev 6-1, 7-6(6) on Monday. The 93rd-ranked Ukrainian had been 2-9 in his last 11 ATP-level matches dating back to the fourth round of the 2016 U.S. Open prior to his arrival in Marseille, so there is no reason to think Marchenko will be the one to slow Tsonga’s momentum.

Pick: Tsonga in 2

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