Monte-Carlo R3 previews and predictions: Nadal vs. Dimitrov, Zverev vs. Fognini

Rafael Nadal played his first match since Indian Wells on Wednesday and double-breadsticked Roberto Bautista Agut. Next up for Nadal in the third round is Grigor Dimitrov, while Alexander Zverev faces Fabio Fognini.

Grigor Dimitrov vs. (2) Rafael Nadal

Nadal and Dimitrov will be squaring off for the 13th time in their careers when they battle for a place in the quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlo Masters on Thursday. The head-to-head series stands at a dominant 11-1 in favor of Nadal, who has predictably won all four of their clay-court encounters–including two in Monte-Carlo. In fact, their most recent meeting came at this same event last year, when the Spaniard cruised through a semifinal contest 6-4, 6-1.

Following his latest win over Dimitrov, Nadal beat Kei Nishikori for his 11th Monte-Carlo title. A 12th triumph in the principality may not be far away, as the world No. 2 erased any lingering knee-injury concerns by destroying Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-1 during second-round action on Wednesday. Dimitrov has been a borderline disaster over the past 15 months, but he has looked good this week with straight-set defeats of Matteo Berrettini and Jan-Lennard Struff. An exponential step up in competition will likely see the end of the 28th-ranked Bulgarian, who is nowhere close to the kind of form that is required to test Nadal on this surface.

Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games

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(13) Fabio Fognini vs. (3) Alexander Zverev

Zverev is without question an all-court player, but right not clay might be exactly what he needs. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion unexpectedly struggled on hard courts throughout the first three months of this 2019 campaign, compiling an alarming 1-2 record in Indian Wells and Miami. A two-time clay-court Masters 1000 winner, Zverev showed signs of rebounding when he crushed Miami semifinalist Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-4 on Wednesday.

Up next for the third-ranked German is a third career showdown against Fognini, who trails the head-to-head series 2-0. Zverev prevailed 6-3, 6-3 at the 2017 Rome Masters before coasting 6-4, 6-2 later that season on the hard courts of Beijing. You often never know what to expect from either one of these mercurial performers, and that is certainly the case at the moment. Fognini, however, looked extremely motivated against Andrey Rublev on Tuesday–storming back from a set-and-break deficit to get the job done 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. The 18th-ranked Italian proceeded to get a walkover from Gilles Simon, so he will be well-rested for this one.

Pick: Fognini in 3

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