What should be an extremely entertaining first-round contest in Miami will pit Martin Klizan against Benoit Paire. Wednesday’s schedule also features Kyle Edmund and American qualifier Jared Donaldson.
Martin Klizan vs. Benoit Paire
Klizan vs. Paire in the first round of the Miami Open on Wednesday features two of the more colorful characters on tour and it will also pit one of the most ferocious backhands against one of the biggest forehands. The only previous encounter between these two mercurial performers came five years ago on the hard courts of Winston-Salem, where Klizan got the job done 6-2, 7-6(4).
The 61st-ranked Slovak is coming off an incredibly bizarre 2016 campaign in which he won two 500-point titles but picked up a mere four ATP-level match victories the entire rest of the year. For those counting, that means Klizan earned more than 71 percent of his wins at just two events. So far this season he is a decent 6-8 on the main tour with quarterfinal finishes in Sofia and Rotterdam. Paire has lost four matches in a row dating back to last month’s Montpellier semifinals and he took just five games off Taylor Fritz in Miami. The 39th-ranked Frenchman has won only nine games in his last two matches combined, although the other loss came at the hands of a red-hot Roger Federer in Dubai. A more in-form Klizan should be able to dictate play just enough to avoid Paire’s backhand and exploit the forehand side.
Pick: Klizan in 3
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(Q) Jared Donaldson vs. Kyle Edmund
Edmund and Donaldson will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Wednesday. It has already been a productive stay in Miami for Donaldson, who qualified for the main draw with straight-set victories over Yibing Wu and Stefan Kozlov. After failing to qualify in Indian Wells, the 95th-ranked American beat Andrey Kuznetsov and Frances Tiafoe at the Irving Challenger before succumbing to eventual champion Aljaz Bedene.
A relatively eventful stop in Indian Wells saw Edmund destroy Gastao Elias and then serve for the second set against Novak Djokovic only to fall 6-4, 7-6(5). The 45th-ranked Brit has reached quarterfinals this season in Brisbane (lost to Stan Wawrinka in three sets) and Delray Beach (lost to Milos Raonic in three sets). Edmund is in fine form at the moment, but two matches already under Donaldson’s belt in the always-tricky Miami conditions should not be underestimated.
Pick: Donaldson in 3
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Edmund in two and krazy Klizan in two was my pick but Paire took him down in straights