Ernests Gulbis will hope to start turning his season around when he goes up against Juan Monaco on Friday in Miami. Feliciano Lopez and Dominic Thiem are also aiming for a place in the third round.
(14) Ernests Gulbis vs. Juan Monaco
This second-round clash at the Miami Open on Friday evening is a recipe for disaster when it comes to Gulbis. Not only is he in dreadful form with a 1-6 record on the season, but he has made no secret that he does not like playing in Miami (1-5 lifetime, five-match losing streak) and he is facing an opponent who leads the head-to-head series 3-2 and will basically have home-court advantage.
The 16th-ranked Latvian’s 2015 campaign includes blowout losses to Dominic Thiem (Rotterdam), Jeremy Chardy (Marseille), and Denis Istomin (Dubai). He is coming off a third-round showing in Indian Wells, where he beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver then bowed out listlessly to Adrian Mannarino. Gulbis can take notes on how to dig out of a slump from Monaco. The in-form Argentine lost his first four matches of the year but has since reached the Rio de Janeiro quarterfinals, the Buenos Aires final, and the last 32 in Indian Wells. Monaco is also a former semifinalist at this event (2012), so his confidence should be in peak shape.
Pick: Monaco in 2
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Dominic Thiem vs. (10) Feliciano Lopez
Lopez and Thiem will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers on Friday afternoon. Their only previous meeting came in the third round of the 2014 U.S. Open, with Thiem turning in an awesome performance to cruise 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. That, however, was when the up-and-coming Austrian was playing the best tennis of his career and building on his surge into ATP prominence throughout the spring of that year. Thiem has struggled this season, with a 3-6 record going into this fortnight, but he fought past Diego Schwartzman in two tough sets on Wednesday.
Twelve years Thiem’s senior at 33, Lopez is still going strong–and that is an understatement. The Spaniard registers at a career-high ranking of No. 12 in the world thanks in part to a strong start in 2015. He advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open, the final in Quito, and the quarterfinals in Indian Wells. In this kind of form, Lopez should be able to turn the tide against his much younger adversary.
Pick: Lopez in 3
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