Rafael Nadal will continue his bid for an 11th Monte-Carlo title when he takes the court against Karen Khachanov as part of Thursday’s third-round schedule. Fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, meanwhile, is facing David Goffin.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Karen Khachanov
With Nadal having been sidelined for the entire hard-court swing following the Australian Open, the rest of the ATP Tour was perhaps hoping for a rare opportunity on clay in 2018. After watching him play just three clay-court matches, Nadal’s challengers may be reassessing those hopes. The top-ranked Spaniard crushed both Philipp Kohlschreiber and Alexander Zverev during his country’s Davis Cup quarterfinal defeat of Germany and he made routine 6-1, 6-3 work of Aljaz Bedene during second-round action at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Wednesday. With his beatdown of Bedene, Nadal improved to 64-4 lifetime at this tournament as he goes for title No. 11.
Up next for the No. 1 seed on Thursday is a third career contest against Khachanov, who trails the head-to-head series 2-0. Nadal prevailed 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(3) last summer at Wimbledon before cruising 6-3, 6-3 a few months later on the hard courts of Beijing. Khachanov earned another shot at his heavily-favored opponent by beating Thanasi Kokkinakis and Gilles Simon in straight sets earlier this week. The 38th-ranked Russian is a solid 14-7 for his 2018 campaign and squarely in contention for French Open seeding. With a healthy Nadal once again in fine form and right at home on his favorite surface, Khachanov’s effort to climb up the rankings will have to be put on hold until Barcelona.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
[polldaddy poll=9984470]
(11) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (6) David Goffin
Goffin and Bautista Agut will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers and for the fourth time at the ATP level when they meet again on Thursday. Bautista Agut has won three of their four previous encounters, but Goffin most recently got the job done 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(3) on the indoor hard courts of Sofia in 2017. The 10th-ranked Belgian may be hard-pressed to pick up another win at Bautista Agut’s expense, because he is without question rusty heading into the Monte-Carlo third round. Goffin suffered a freak eye injury in Rotterdam and played only one hard-court match thereafter, getting blown out by Joao Sousa 6-0, 6-1 in Miami. With a little more recovery time, this week’s No. 6 seed raised his level to defeat an in-form Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(4), 7-5 on Tuesday.
Bautista Agut has been wildly up and down this year. The 16th-ranked Spaniard is already the proud owner of two titles (Auckland and Dubai), but lost his opening match at four of his other five events prior to Monte-Carlo–and his second match at the other one (to Borna Coric in Indian Wells). Bautista Agut has managed to avoid an early exit so far in the principality, with straight-set victories over Peter Gojowyczk and Feliciano Lopez. It is clear that the 11th seed can go a long way when he settles in at a tournament, and Goffin certainly remains less than 100 percent despite showing signs of improvement.
Pick: Bautist Agut in 2
[polldaddy poll=9984466]
Leave a Reply